Demons in love
by Phireofthedark
Summary: If you think one would really love forever, think again...
1. Chapter 1

Demons in Love 

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yuyu hakusho, but Phire is my character. Do not take her.**

Chapter 1: The beginning of a confused story

Prologue (sort of):

Phire –a cheetah demon, with long, raven black hair with natural red highlights, emotionless eyes, huge and bulky fangs, claws, a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers- was bored to death, as she was done writing a book for her research. She didn't understand why she wasn't dying and going back to sleep for another few centuries or so until Kiyuna would call her because he would confused with some research and would need Phire to examine it.

_'Sigh, will something happen now? I really want to do something, or go to sleep, if anything,' _Phire told herself. She was really bored and was just walking around Tokyo. All of a sudden, she noticed a weird looking portal, and decided to see how it was, only to be pushed into it by a little hyper and idiotic kid.

'Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!' Phire screamed, falling in. She wondered where this mysterious portal would take her.

Now:

Kurama was feeling upset about not having a date to the dance. Botan was going with Kuwabara, Yusuke was obviously with Keiko, Hiei was going with the new girl Timber, and whom was Kurama going with? His oh so called 'best friend' had dumped him for the rich kid Dawson, one of the hottest kids in the school, and nearly every girl liked him.

_'I can't believe I'm the only one who doesn't have a date,' _Kurama told himself. _'I mean, even the lowlives have dates! All have someone special, but me.'_ Kurama saw a wishing well, and decided to make a wish in it. He threw in a penny. He thought to himself what he should wish for, and finally came up with a wish.

_'I wish I had a date to the dance,' _Kurama said to himself. All of a sudden, something was falling out of the sky and screaming. Kurama ran over to the falling matter, and found out that it was a girl. Kurama thought to himself and then noticed that the girl was unconscious.

_'I think my wish just came true,' _Kurama thought, smiling still. He checked her pulse, and then performed CPR, and then checked her pulse again. Finally, after a while, she woke up, and her face was a bit full of rubies from a fresh mine.

'Are you okay, Miss?' Kurama asked, his face full of a fresh batch of tomatoes.

'One, where am I? Two, who are you? And three, did you perform CPR on me?' the girl asked. Kurama's face looked like someone had just spread blood all over it, but it was just ketchup, right?

'To answer you in the same order: You are in the area of Sarasaki, two, and my name is Kurama'-

'YOU DON'T LOOK LIKE A YUGIOH CARD!'

'Yea, you are talking to a yugioh card, hear me roar, hee haw!' Kurama said sarcastically. The girl looked at him and paled a bit.

'Well, where are you supposed to be going, Kurama?' the girl asked, getting up and sitting next to Kurama.

'I actually was looking for someone who would go to the school dance,' Kurama answered, a bit tomato looking, but then looked at the girl.

'Oh really? Feh, I am not really interested in dances. I prefer looking up formulae and creating them in my laboratory,' the girl said, looking up into the sky.

'You know what I just realized? I do not know your name,' Kurama said all of a sudden out of the blue. The girl sweat dropped anime-style.

'Phire. My name is Phire,' Phire said, telling him her name, but still looking at the sky. Kurama turned her head with one hand, making her look at him. She just stared at him as if he was crazy, even though he seemed a bit crazy.

'Phire. Phire. That is the perfect name for you, as it describes the fire in your eyes,' Kurama said, observing her fiery red eyes. She had both of her eyebrows lifted, but then didn't say anything.

'Kurama, can you remove your hand from my face now?' Phire asked, "blood" surrounding her face profusely. Kurama smiled.

'I don't know, can I?' Kurama asked, chuckling a bit, feeling her face. Phire looked at his hand, more blood surrounding her face.

_'Weird, I actually like the feeling of his hand,' _Phire thought to herself, rubies filling her face. After a while, she put her hand on his. Kurama started getting "ketchup" on his face.

'So Phire, will you be my date for the dance?' Kurama asked, his head facing the ground. Phire was as emotionless as ever, but then lifted his head by his chin with her free hand.

'Yes, I will Kurama,' Phire answered. Kurama smiled and then out of a little too much excitement, he grabbed Phire's head and planted his lips on hers, closing his eyes, and moving his hands down to her waist. She widened her eyes, but then closed them and kissed him back, putting her arms around his neck.

_'Finally, I have a date… not a date, but a gorgeous date,' _Kurama thought to himself. After they both pulled back, they both were shiny red and then they both laughed for no reason.

'So Kurama, exactly where is the dance?' Phire asked, getting up. He helped her up.

'Well Phire, let me show you,' Kurama said as they held hands and walked to the high school. Kurama was thinking to himself.

_'I wonder what the guys and the others will think when they see this hottie,' _Kurama thought to himself. Little did he know, Phire also had telepathy, and heard every single one of his thoughts, and blushed every time he said them. Kurama noticed Phire blushing and was wondering why.

'Phire, why are you blushing?' Kurama asked her, looking at her ruby-colored face.

'I have telepathy, I hope you know that, Kurama,' Phire told him straight out. Kurama blushed.

'Oh,' he said, and then they both stayed quiet until they reached the doors of Sarasaki high school.

Preview line of next chapter:

'_What the… who is that cute demon girl?'_


	2. Chapter 2, Hiei needs emo control pt I

Chapter 2: Hiei needs to control his emotions, part I

_'What the… who is that cute demon girl?' _Hiei asked himself as he saw Kurama with a pretty girl. He sensed a very strong aura from her, and when he tried to get a measurement, he couldn't find one, as her power was way off the charts.

'Hey Hiei! Kurama! Yusuke! Kuwabara! Keiko! Botan! Timber! Guess what?' Kurama screamed to them. Hiei was staring into Phire's fiery red eyes, and she stared back at Hiei's red eyes. They both started glaring at each other, and then everybody else just stared at them.

'Kurama, what is it? Hiei, what are you staring at?' Yusuke asked, coming out of the auditorium. He saw Phire and then his mouth was wide open.

'DAMN!' Yusuke screamed, drooling, his mouth wide open. Keiko came outside and saw Yusuke staring at Phire, and then she slapped him.

'YUSUKE! WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING?' Keiko started screaming. Kuwabara came out after a while and saw Phire, and started drooling as well. Botan came out and then slapped him.

'Huh? What? I didn't do it!' Kuwabara complained, rubbing the cheek that had a red hand mark on it. After a while, Phire blinked and then saw Timber, her old friend.

'Timber!' Phire screamed in her emotionless voice. Timber turned around and saw Phire, smiling with a big grin.

'Phire! It's you! It's been so long!' Timber exclaimed, hugging Phire. Phire didn't do anything but stood still.

'Yes Timber, it has been a while,' Phire said. After Timber let go, she ran up to Hiei and hugged him.

'Well Phire'- Timber was about to say, when Phire interrupted her.

'So, he is yours, I am assuming?' Phire asked, raising an eyebrow. Hiei widened his eyes a little.

_'Hmph, she is sharper than I thought and smarter, too,' _Hiei told himself.

'Hiei, you just realized that?' Phire asked, looking at Hiei. Hiei gasped.

'So you have telepathy as well?' Hiei asked, raising an eyebrow at her. She then turned her attention to Timber.

'So Timber, I hear from Kurama that there is a dance?' Phire asked, going towards Kurama. Kurama smiled and hugged her. Everybody looked a bit shocked.

'So Kurama, I assume Phire is your date for the dance?' Hiei asked. Kurama nodded happily and Phire just stood there, bored to death. Timber then grabbed Phire and dragged her into the auditorium.

'Hey Phire, I've got to talk to you privately,' Timber said, still dragging Phire. Everyone else started talking and Kurama explained how he had gotten Phire to go to the dance with him.

'So Phire,' Timber said, both of them sitting down on chairs. The auditorium was filled with pretty colors. Phire twitched when she saw the color pink.

'Yes Timber?' Phire asked, waiting for her to continue.

'Are you seriously going to the dance with Kurama?' Timber asked Phire, looking right at her. Phire shrugged.

'Well, I was bored, and he mentioned your name, so I decided to go with him,' Phire explained.

'Oh, well, that explains it,' Timber said, nodding her head, still having a big grin on her face. Phire was emotionless as ever, with a neutral face covering hers. At that time, Hiei and Kurama were talking together about Timber and Phire.

'So Kurama, what school did you search in to find Phire?' Hiei asked, leaning against the wall of Sarasaki High. He really couldn't think of any high school that would accept a demon like Phire. She was too… "Warrior like" was what Hiei thought.

'Well Hiei, I didn't exactly go to any schools to find her,' Kurama answered, leaning against a tree, which was facing Hiei, 20 feet- 25 feet away. Hiei raised both of his eyebrows but was not surprised to hear such an expected answer. He figured she didn't go to any school, yet her clothes threw him off. They were modern, and the weapons made it harder to decipher her origins.

'I figured as much, but where did you find her, in a forest?' Hiei teased, smirking a bit. Kurama rolled his eyes.

'Hiei, give me a break. I didn't find her in a forest either,' Kurama told Hiei, serious now. Hiei thought that maybe- just maybe- that she was stranded in a forest and couldn't find her parents and was raised by… either lions or cheetahs or some type of beast like that.

'Well then, what the heck is her story?' Hiei started whining a little, much more curious now. He stood up straight and walked over to Kurama and looked at him eye to eye.

'Honestly Hiei, I barely have a clue,' Kurama said, not sounding funny one bit. Hiei raised an eyebrow in wonderment.

'Oh really? You never asked her? You should ask her, Kurama, she could be an evil demon from the underworld, you know,' Hiei "lectured" Kurama.

While that conversation had occurred, Yusuke and the other humans had gone inside of the auditorium for decorations while Phire and Timber both left separate ways; Timber to the cafeteria and Phire was on the roof, spying on Kurama and Hiei. When she heard Hiei calling her "evil", she had growled and then pounced on him, immediately taking her katana out before Hiei did and put it at his throat.

'What the- Phire! Get off! I didn't do anything!' Hiei growled, but then stopped as he gazed into her deep, now bloody red eyes, but in his heart, he had somewhat desired that type of feeling; however, he felt trepidation overpowering him at the moment, and didn't like it. Just like Hiei, Phire had also stared, but felt absolutely nothing; of course, her "vortex of darkness" blocks out all feelings, or as it seems.

'_Your supposition of me is wrong. I am far from evil. I don't even come close,' _Phire telepathically told Hiei. Hiei wasn't surprised, but struggled to get out of her grip; her other claw held his collar tightly.

'_Wait, I didn't mean that you were'- _Hiei tried to explain to Phire telepathically that it was just a mistake and that he thinks that for every demon regardless of dark or light, but Phire just tightened her grip and then pulled him towards her, katana touching the back of his neck this time.

'_Then what the heck did you mean?' _she growled, really angry. Hiei had grown a few tomatoes on his face, and tried to back away, as he was only 3 inches away from her. She then released him after around 10 seconds.

'_I see…' _she told him telepathically after reading his mind. She put her sword away and then started leaving. Kurama followed her.

'Wait!' Hiei growled. Phire kept going until she sensed Hiei running towards her. She stopped and then grabbed his katana, causing blood to pour from her hands, and then threw him, along with the katana, into a hill 3 miles away. Kurama was astonished.

'Phire! Why did you do that?' Kurama asked, getting his rose whip out. Phire glared at Kurama, and he put his rose whip away immediately. She then put her sword away, and walked towards the high school.

'I did it because he was going to attack me,' Phire answered after a while. It was quiet for the most part. Kurama was and was not surprised at her action; her strength, as he had sensed, was immense, but why she actually did it was a mystery. They both went inside and negotiated with the hyper Yusuke and others. Hiei, on the other hand, was moaning in pain when he had hit the hill within a few seconds.

'Ugh,' he moaned, falling down the hill, back still against the hill. 'I could have dodged that, but why didn't I?' Hiei asked himself. He then, after landing on ground, started making his way back to the auditorium. Timber had found him lying on the ground, which was halfway to the school, bleeding profusely.

'Hiei!' She screamed, running towards him. He had fainted and his katana was right next to him in his hand. 'Hiei! What happened?' Timber asked, kneeling down next to him, lifting him into her arms. He looked at her, eyes less red, and didn't say anything for a while.

'Your… friend… is… too… powerful,' Hiei said, in intervals of 20 seconds. Timber got angry and then carried to the school.

'I'm going to teach Phire a lesson!' Timber yelled, really angry. Phire sensed that conversation, but didn't take her sword out. After a few minutes, the two were still not back yet, and Yusuke and Kuwabara were in different classrooms doing work that Keiko and Botan forced them to do. Phire yawned after a while. Kurama noticed and went towards her.

'Phire, you okay?' Kurama asked, looking at her. Phire walked towards him, and then her head hit his chest, her arms were around his neck, and she fell asleep almost immediately. Kurama blushed a little, but then held her in his arms and smiled. After a while, Timber and Hiei were back in the auditorium, and Timber put Hiei down and went towards Kurama and Phire, red in the face, angry.

'PHIRE! WAKE UP, YOU LITTLE IDIOT!' Timber yelled, Kurama stopping Timber with one hand.

'Shut up, baka! She's sleeping!' Kurama growled in a low tone. He then turned his back to Timber and lifted Phire bridal style. 'She's tired, let her sleep.'

'I AM NOT GOING TO LET HER GET AWAY WITH BEATING UP MY HIEI!' Timber yelled and got out a rainbow colored katana. Before she was about to slash Phire, Hiei had wakened up.

'Stop, Timber,' Hiei said, struggling to get up. Timber stopped, sword right above Phire's neck, and then Kurama had gotten out his rose whip and slashed Timber with it, causing her to fall down. Hiei was finally up and then took his katana out.

'Hiei, why did you want me to stop?' Timber asked, moaning in pain from Kurama's attack.

'Because _I _want to fight Phire,' Hiei said, his katana in an offensive position. Phire woke up and then Kurama let her down, her sword out as well.

'Hiei, you are not in a good position to fight me,' Phire said, glaring into Hiei's fiery red eyes. Her eyes turned bloody red and he stared right into her eyes back.

'Well when I get healed, I'm fighting you, one-on-one, Phire,' Hiei said in a low-toned growl. She nodded.

'I guess I shall acquiesce to that, then,' Phire said, putting her sword away. 'After the dance, we will fight on top of Mt. Alneria,' Phire added, grabbing Kurama's hand and leading him outside.

'That will comply, then,' Hiei said, taking Timber's hand and leaving. After a few hours, the dance was finally going to start! Hiei was thinking to himself until the dance.

'_Hm, she seems to be… powerful, but I think she's a bit cute,' _Hiei told himself. _'Gr! I shouldn't be saying this! I like Timber, but I seem to feel weird every time she is around, that hot cheetah demon…'_

Preview line for the next chapter:

'Hiei, why did you say that about me? You could have gotten killed if she had found out, you know.'


	3. Chapter 3, Hiei needs emo control pt II

Chapter 3: Hiei needs to control his emotions, part II

'Hiei, why did you say that about me? You could have gotten killed if she had found out, you know,' Phire told Hiei, who was healing his wounds that Timber gave him.

'But Phire, I forgot that Timber learned telepathy!' Hiei growled, and then winced in pain. Phire held his hand, easing and appeasing his pain. Blood rushed to his face and he looked down. She was looking at his hand and trying to get the pain out.

'This should feel better,' Phire said, "massaging" his hand. Hiei had red roses blossom onto his face as the pain went away instantly.

'Thanks, Phire,' Hiei thanked Phire, still looking down. She tilted her head and then thought for about a minute in silence.

'Hiei, you seem… bewildered,' Phire said, almost in a trance. Hiei was startled; she was the first person to notice that he was puzzled.

'Well Phire, how did… you know?' Hiei asked, even more baffled. She looked at him as she gently lifted him by the chin with one hand.

'It isn't difficult, Hiei,' Phire answered, gazing into his eyes without any emotion whatsoever; on the other hand, he was engrossed into looking into the bloody red that Timber smacked him upside the head and he took about 5 minutes to notice that.

'Ouch! What was that for?' Hiei growled, but then looked down. 'Sorry Timber, I was'-

'You were what?' Timber growled, grabbing Hiei's shoulder. Phire looked at the two.

'Timber, I was showing Hiei how to find out someone's personality by looking at their eyes,' Phire said quickly before Timber was about to hit Hiei harder. Little did Hiei know it, she literally was, and Timber was forced to believe it, as Phire had learned Hiei's character by looking into his eyes.

'Oh, I see… very strange, though, Phire, very strange,' Timber said, leaving. 'Well, you teach Hiei that while I go and eat some food,' she said, leaving. It was around 5 p.m., and the dance was starting at 7:30 p.m. and would end around 1:00 a.m., or even later.

'Phire, nice cover,' Hiei said, wiping the sweat off of his forehead.

'Hiei, I was telling the truth; I was seriously trying to teach you that,' Phire said in a serious tone. Hiei raised both of his eyebrows.

'Wow, your just… amazing, but still, pathetic,' Hiei said, leaning against a tree. Phire raised an eyebrow at him.

'How am I pathetic? You're the one who let me throw you onto the façade of a hill,' Phire stated, walking towards him. He looked to the side.

'So Phire, what's your real story?' Hiei asked, after a few moments of awkward silence. She looked to the ground, and was quiet. Her eyes were gleaming with blood. After a while, though, she started talking.

'Well Hiei,' she started, and continued, 'if you really want to know, I'm actually not supposed to be here. Maybe I am, but I wasn't expecting to land here.' Hiei was perplexed by Phire's vague explanation.

'Could you be more specific?' Hiei asked, and started to ponder over what type of life she must've had. She sighed and looked up into the air, eyes closed.

'A life of crap, yet a rich aristocrat would desire,' she said, sighing. Hiei went over to her.

'Puhlease,' Hiei said. 'I'm the forbidden child, and'-

'I've been tortured, in both ways,' Phire interrupted, clenching her fist. Hiei knew exactly what she meant and gasped.

'Phire, I didn't realized that you… who did it to you?' Hiei asked, next to her this time, looking at her.

'Kiyuna Bradi, ruler of half of the underworld, brother of the actual ruler,' Phire answered, sighing again. Hiei raised both of his eyebrows.

_'And I thought I went through crap… if the world hates me, the whole UNIVERSE must hate her,' _he said telepathically to himself.

'You're right, Hiei, the universe does hate me,' Phire said, reading his mind. Hiei turned around.

'Hey, let's go to the dance, its 7:25 p.m.,' Hiei said after a while. Phire agreed and they both went back to the auditorium. After that, they all had fun, they all danced, got high and drunk off of soda, and bam, went crazy. Later, Kurama had taken Phire back stage. He wanted to show her his rose whip in rose form.

'Hey Phire, check this out,' Kurama said, giving her the rose. Phire didn't see what it was and took it, and when the thorns went into her fingers and spread poison, she fell forward and landed in Kurama's chest.

'I don't feel so good,' Phire had said before fainting. Her face was pale and her pulse was high. Kurama started to worry and carried her. He told Timber and the others to come and help him, as he didn't understand what was wrong.

'What did you do to her?' Yusuke asked, staring at Phire. Keiko smacked him upside the head.

**'Yusuke,' **Keiko growled. Yusuke then left the room with her. Kuwabara had done the same thing so he and Botan left. Hiei and Timber stayed, though.

'Well Kurama, what did you do?' Timber asked, and Hiei just observed her. He checked her pulse and was thrown off by her getting pale.

'Don't pale people usually have low pulse, Kurama?' Hiei asked, confused. Kurama nodded.

'I think I know the problem,' Kurama said after 30 seconds of thinking. 'I had given her the rose whip in rose form, and then thorns went into her skin and poison… that's it! Her weakness is poison!' Kurama yelled.

_'Poison? But poison is easy to avoid… unless that is her only weakness,' _Hiei had thought to himself. Timber punched Kurama, and started screaming at him for poisoning Phire.

'Hey! I didn't know she was vulnerable to poison!' Kurama complained, dodging Timber's attacks. Hiei sighed, and then noticed Phire waking up, panting. She looked at Hiei, and then grabbed his shoulder, and her claws went into his skin. He gritted his teeth, but then held in the pain.

_'This poison must really take an effect on her, I can feel her pain right now,' _Hiei thought to himself. 'Kurama! Get over here and take care of her!' Hiei yelled to Kurama, going over to Kurama and Timber. Kurama jumped and landed near Phire, and Hiei grabbed Timber's arm and calmed her down.

'Phire, how are you feeling?' Kurama asked, feeling her forehead. She just looked at him and didn't say anything. She fell asleep and her skin started to go back to normal. Kurama had secretly injected a temporary immune system for poison into her when he had felt her forehead. She was feeling much better, but she needed her rest. The dance was going to start in half an hour, but Kurama wanted to take care of her and had her in his arms.

'Kurama, Timber and I are going to go. What about you?' Hiei asked Kurama, holding Timber's hand, about to go. Kurama shook his head.

'You guys go, I'm taking care of Phire,' Kurama said, smiling. She was sound asleep and he didn't want to disturb her. Hiei chuckled a little.

'Have it your way,' Hiei smirked, leaving with Timber. Kurama waited patiently, and didn't really care if he had missed the dance or not; he had Phire, what should he care? What he doesn't realize is that does she really like him?

Preview line of chapter 4:

'Watch out! Watch out! A werewolf of doom!


	4. Chapter 4, Phire's power revealed, pt I

Chapter 4: Phire's power is revealed part I

'Watch out! Watch out! A werewolf of doom!' were the screams of the innocent bystanders outside of the auditorium. The high school students were frightened to death and they were running helter skelter all over the place. The gang thought that something would happen soon. Kurama worried as he needed to protect Phire, but what he didn't know was whether she really was sleeping or not.

'Yusuke, get everybody out of the building, Kuwabara, Timber and I will kill the creatures. Botan and Keiko, you two help Kurama get Phire out of here and fast,' Hiei ordered. It was usually Kurama who had done this stuff with Hiei on his side but now it was nearly the opposite.

'Right,' Yusuke said, getting everybody evacuated out of the building. Kuwabara and Timber looked around and fought the werewolf demons. Hiei looked back to Kurama, and noticed Phire's right eye was twitching. He was amazed at how quickly she sensed the danger, as it looked like she was twitching her eye for about 5 minutes non-stop.

_'She really is one intriguing demon,' _He thought to himself.

'Kurama!' Botan and Keiko screamed. Kurama had wrapped one arm around Phire while he had his rose whip in the other.

'You two, get Phire out of here, I'm helping Hiei,' Kurama ordered Keiko and Botan, and gave Phire to them. Kurama then ran and caught up to Hiei.

'Hiei, I'm helping you,' Kurama said as he whipped one of the demons away. Hiei widened his eyes.

'Kurama, Phire is with Keiko and Botan right?' Hiei asked.

'Yes,' Kurama said. He worried and hoped that no demons would attack. He was wrong, but the result of the feat would astonish him forever, and his whole demon theory would change.

'Keiko! We have to get out of here before the demons get here!' Botan screamed, holding one of Phire's arms. Keiko nodded, but just then, the leader of the werewolf demons appeared. He had two swords, one at each of Keiko's and Botan's necks. They froze, but just then the leader backed away, dropping the swords. Phire got out of the two girls' grips and had her sword in her hand while the other hand had a kunai.

'Ph-ph-Phire!' the demon leader yelled as he backed up to a wall. Hiei and the others had killed all of the soldiers but forgot about the leader.

'Aketsu, what are you doing here?' Phire asked, growling, her sword pressing to his throat. He froze and then her eyes turned bloody red. His eyes were filled with trepidation and then he screamed like a little girl. Keiko and Botan were getting scared of both Phire and Aketsu, but more Aketsu due to his atrocious little girl laughter, yet Phire at the same time due to her recovering within a few minutes.

'Phire, let me go, and we can talk,' he said, eyeing her. She growled and put a slit through his throat. He yelped in pain.

'Kurama, we forgot the'- Hiei was about to scream, but Kurama had already said leader when he was about to say it.

'Oh no, Phire!' he yelled, worrying. He didn't want to her die. Hiei, deep down inside, was actually more scared for her than Kurama, but Hiei himself didn't realize it until he saw Keiko and Botan running outside when the fighters were about to enter.

'WHERE'S PHIRE?' Hiei yelled for Kurama, growling at Keiko and Botan. Timber then smacked Hiei upside the head.

'Hey, THAT'S KURAMA'S JOB TO ASK, NOT YOURS!' Timber growled at Hiei, who shrunk into a little corner. Keiko and Botan, though, both pointed to the bloody decapitated corpse, which was the leader of course, and then they pointed to the warrior that had her sword at his throat, who was Phire. Everyone's eyes widened, especially when the eyes of the warrior demon were bloody red.


	5. Chapter 5, Phire's power revealed, pt II

Chapter 5: Phire's power is revealed pt. II 

_'Whoa… her eyes… they gleam with the power of a true demon warrior who was at war,' _Kurama thought to himself. He wasn't the only one who thought this, though. Timber wasn't surprised, as she knew Phire before when they were 12. Hiei felt his heart beating faster than when he fought Yusuke and lost due to him not being able to concentrate. He was the only one who realized that Phire was staring directly into his eyes.

_'Hiei, you and I meet at the hill of Gondolo at midnight,' _she telepathically told him. Hiei shook his eyes. He, of course, heard her.

'You guys, you guys! Why the shocker?' Timber asked, trying to calm everybody down. Phire's eyes gradually turned fiery red from bloody red and she put her sword away. She went over to them and went towards Kurama.

'Please, calm down, I merely defended myself, how is that such a big deal?' Phire asked Kurama, touching his face. Kurama's face became salsa without the vegetables, and then finally calmed down, his face still full of salsa. Keiko and Botan were still scared while everyone else calmed down. Just then, they started screaming like idiots.

'OH MY! YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN PHIRE! WE THOUGHT THAT **WE **WERE GONNERS, BUT THEN SHE JUST "WHOOSHED" AND THEN HER SWORD WAS AT HIS THROAT AND…' they continued explaining how powerful Phire was and how 'cool' her moves were. Phire rolled her eyes.

'Phire, you must be the best demon on the block!' Kuwabara said. 'I bet you could defeat Hiei!' he exclaimed. Hiei death glared Kuwabara, and Kuwabara went behind Botan, who was still shocked.

'Well actually,' Phire started, and when Hiei tried to cut her off, but she continued, 'I could defeat Hiei with ease if no conditions are there that would affect me.' Hiei thought to himself.

'Well, why don't we go back to my place?' Keiko asked so she could break the awkward silence. Everyone but Phire and Hiei nodded. They were glaring into each other's eyes.

_'If what she says is correct, then she could be my greatest rival and… intriguing friend,' _Hiei thought to himself. Phire heard but didn't do anything about it.


	6. Chapter 6, Phire's power revealed, ptIII

Chapter 6: Phire's power revealed pt. III/ Gondolo Hill fight 

_'Hmph, she's late,' _thought Hiei. It was 12:01, and he was really bored. Just then, he felt a very cool breeze fly by his face, his hair blowing along with it. Just then, a kunai went into his arm, and pierced through his skin. Hiei tried to yelp in pain, but then Phire caught him by the throat as he jumped, choked him, and then threw him into the air, directly vertical, and then took her sword out.

'Firaga assault!' she yelled, her sword emitting waves of horrendous fire going through Hiei. It would seem as though Phire was stupid, but that was the smartest move to make.

_'Why a fire attack? Did she forget that I'm a fire demon?' _Hiei thought to himself, taking the hit. It didn't affect him, until he started coughing out blood. It seemed as though the fire attack had an extra effect with it.

'Reisui nitoro no bakuha!' Cold water nitro blast Phire yelled, right in front of him in less than half of a blink of the eye. Water gushed from her sword and hit Hiei badly, pushing him towards a tree. As he hit it, he somehow got it crushed and a domino affect with trees occurred, Hiei flying badly through the mist of the air. After a while, he finally hit a mountain, but because of the velocity he was traveling at, he went through the mountain, and kept going. Phire flew quicker and was behind him, and caught him, sword at his throat.

'Nande…' What the… Hiei tried to say, but Phire held her grip on him tighter.

'Give up, yet?' she asked, the sword slightly piercing through the flesh of his neck. He gritted his teeth and thought back to the training, when he almost died.

'I-iie,' N-no he tried to say, struggling to get out of her grip. She just looked at him, and then threw him into the mountain, but at a higher elevation, ran quickly to him, and spoke.

'So be it,' were the last words Hiei heard before falling into a serious "coma" of ice and water temporarily. He woke up later, and fought her again.

Kurama woke up around 2 in the morning. He couldn't sleep; something felt wrong. As he got up, he looked around and noticed that Hiei and Phire were missing.

_'Oh no, this isn't good,' _Kurama thought to himself. As he went outside, he saw a very huge blast of two types of fire; one was deep red, while the other looked bloodier and more vicious.

_'They are fighting! Oh crap!' _Kurama thought, running as quick as possible to Gondolo Hill. When he reached, he was panting and gasped at the sight of Hiei, nearly tortured to death, but he breathed very slightly, and at Phire, bloody red eyes, just attacking as though she were training him.

'Give up yet, Hiei?' she asked, her sword going through his throat. He lightly grabbed her wrist, and tried to flip her at a 180, but he couldn't move her wrist whatsoever.

'I s-said'- Kurama screaming at Phire interrupted Hiei.

'Stop, Phire!' Kurama screamed, his vine around her neck, ready to emit poison. She glared at him from a slight glance, but still looked at Hiei.

_'Kuso,' _she thought to herself, as she removed the sword. Kurama tried to drag her over to him, but she burned the vine quickly and went over to him without reluctance. Hiei tried to get up, and did after a while.

'Phire, why are you trying to kill him?' Kurama asked, looking at her eye to eye. She looked right back at him and did answer.

'He asked for a fight, so I fought,' she explained. 'Right, Hiei?' she asked Hiei, looking at him. As he walked over, he nodded and then almost fell, but Phire caught him.

'He _asked _for a fight from _you!_' Kurama gasped, surprised. Was she really that strong? Did Hiei want her to be a rival?

'WHAT'S GOING ON!' Timber yelled as she ran over to them. She was apparently stalking Kurama to see where he was going, and knew that Hiei would probably be found. Phire gave Hiei to Timber, and she took him viciously from her.

'PHIRE, I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS! WHY DID YOU TRY TO KILL HIM!' She yelled at the top of her lungs, causing Yusuke and the others to reach. Phire just looked at her.

'He asked for it,' she said as she decided to leave. 'Besides, I warned him, and he wanted to fight; ask him when he's awake,' she added in. Kurama tried to go after her, but Phire telepathically told him that she wanted to be alone. Kurama understood and then told everybody that it was time for all to return home. Timber had put down Hiei for a moment, and when she went to pick him up again, he was gone!

'Oh no! Hiei is gone!' Timber screeched. Everybody gasped, and only Kurama knew where he could have possibly gone, and that was with Phire, of course.

As Phire ran to one of her secret bases, Hiei woke up, slightly.

'Did you escape them?' he asked in a whisper. She understood what he meant and shook her head.

'Suuichi knows that I took you,' Phire told him. He muttered 'kuso' under his breath, but then Phire added in something. 'He just doesn't know that I'm going to train you and heal you.'

'You still want to train me?' he asked, confused. She stopped as they reached, and set him down. She lied on the ground, looking at the beautifully dark _hoshizora _starry sky, and Hiei joined her by lying next to her.

'Do you not want power?' she asked. He gasped.

'Well, there is a tournament coming up,' Hiei started, but then Phire put a finger to his lips.

'Kurama, come out, leave, or I'll kill you,' Phire growled, a kunai hitting him right in the shoulder. He came out with his rose whip.

'Kuso, how did you know?' he asked, one eye closed due to the pain in his shoulder. Hiei quickly got up, and a shot of pain went up his arm. Phire laid him down slowly.

'Hiei, don't get up that fast, you'll hurt yourself,' Phire told him. She then went towards Kurama and grabbed him by the throat.

'Phire, why are you?'- Hiei started asking, but then stopped as a shurikan went right past his ear. He stood 'frozen' in time and space.

'Suuichi, what do you want? We'll be fine,' Phire told Kurama as she let go of him. He coughed out blood, and she held her sword to his throat.

'I was wondering what you were going to do,' Suuichi answered, getting up. He hugged her.

'Phire, I was worried about you and what you were going to do with Hiei, that was all,' he told her, hugging her tighter. She laid her head slightly against his chest and sighed.

'Just leave; we'll be fine,' she told him. He pecked her on the cheek and then left. Hiei merely breathed, and that was all that could be heard in that area; why, it was dead quiet.


	7. Chapter 7, tough power decision pt I

**Chapter 7: A tough decision for power, part I**

'Hiei, wake up,' Phire tried to wake Hiei up. He had fainted again, and Phire took him into the tree base that she was in from before.

'Huh? What happened to Kurama?' he asked, a hint of a low growl able to be heard.

'He left,' Phire told him straight out. She took her sword out, and it gleamed without any light. Hiei just looked at it.

'Phire,' he started asking, 'I thought your sword had'- Phire then had fire surround the sword, and blood dripped from the sword.

'Yes Hiei, my sword does have blood on it,' Phire told him. 'Only the ones who may acknowledge true darkness and forget the ruthless lies of light will have permission to see the true fate.'

_'True fate?' _Hiei thought to himself, confused. He looked at her strangely, and then looked at the sword. If blood surrounded it, does that mean something? Hiei started getting an idea of what was going on.

'Yes Hiei, true fate,' Phire told him as she read his mind. He wasn't very surprised that she read his mind, knowing that she had telepathy.

'Are you trying to say that'- Phire knew that he understood only half, so she put 2 fingers on his mouth to stop him from continuing.

'You will understand later, Hiei; right now, only time can tell,' Phire interrupted. He merely looked at her with glaring eyes, but then the sword looked like a magnificent sword, as if the strongest warrior of times just got a new sword.

'Huh?' Hiei gasped a little. 'Where is the blood?' he asked, demanding an answer. She just looked at him and said no more.

'Well then, come Hiei, let's train,' she told him. 'Unless of course, you still need rest,' she added in. Hiei glared at her and got up.

'Of course I'll train; I've always been ready, you know,' Hiei answered. Phire looked at him.

'I expected such an answer,' she muttered. Hiei didn't hear her, but walked outside, sword in his hand. She looked outside and it was already the next day.

_'Hmph, I wonder what she was talking about before,' _Hiei thought to himself, acknowledging the beautiful flora and fauna. Also, he picked up the scent of a very sacred place, and started walking towards it. The more he went towards it, the chillier it seemed to get.

_'Br, since when did it get cold?' _he thought. The trees were normal and it looked like springtime, but it was colder. As he kept walking, he noticed that the leaves of the shining trees that had the gorgeous radiance of the sun started to get deeper green and were even more eloquent enough to draw in the attention of an adolescent. Hiei was even more confused, and then realized that if this were assumingly a sacred area, then there are certain forces acting on the trees and the environment.

It was 20 minutes later that he started shivering to death and the radiance of the sun increased; but it seemed to be decreasing the temperature instead of increasing it. Hiei looked beyond a few trees, and noticed a few drops of water from somewhere. As he approached, the weather's mild conditions dramatically increased and the heat was now piercing shivering cold. Hiei could see his breath as he breathed, and despite him being a fire demon, his power was an ant to a giant.

He finally reached a waterfall, and it shined with the crystal clear cerulean of pure water. Hiei couldn't take the Pluto-like temperature and when he tried to scream, his voice was too low to be heard even by Kurama through telepathy.

'H-h-h-h-e-l-p m-m-m-m-e-e-e!' he mourned to himself, shivering. Ironically, no icicles were forming on him and he was sweating. He thought that me may have caught a fever, but homeostasis denied that fact. He felt a deep warm wave go into his body right in the next second, and sighed in relief. As he turned around to see who it was, he gasped. 

'Hiei, are your fire powers really that weak?' Phire asked, bringing him closer to her to keep him warm. She had her sword summon fire waves that surrounded the two of them.

'How did you?'- Phire rubbed his hair and made him back to normal, interrupting his question and thought.

'I'll explain everything; funny enough, you were supposed to come here tomorrow, but I guess an early start isn't bad,' she told him. He just looked at her in bedazzled and wanted an explanation.

'Well?' he asked, rubbing his head against her for more warmth. He never realized that the power of Phire would really help right now. She put his arm around his neck and started explaining the whole predicament that Hiei was in.

'I understand now; so this is the most sacred place on Earth as the Holy Spirit entered this place?' Hiei asked to make sure he understood.

'Yes; also, the effects you were feeling were from the "curse" that the Holy Spirit put on this place,' Phire explained. 'The waterfall only gets the attention of the ones who desire power, as those are the ones that are usually loners, but not always,' Phire added in. Hiei widened his eyes a little.

'So that's why I was freezing to death even though I was actually normal and sweating,' Hiei said after analyzing the information in his head. Phire nodded and then went into the waterfall. Steam came out of the water as she was hot at the moment, and it didn't seem to affect her whatsoever. She went under the most tense point of the waterfall, and she just stood there, eyes closed, still, not moving even one millimeter. Hiei just watched her in puzzlement.

After 5 minutes, Hiei was getting impatient and took one step into the waterfall and jumped back. It was colder than the coldest thing that was ever imaginable.

'Gah!' he shrieked at the top of his lungs. He could not understand how Phire was able to go under with ease.

_'Freaking monkey, I want to be that type of strong! A heck lot of endurance and much more dedication to power!' _Hiei thought to himself in his mind. Just then, as Phire opened one eye, which was bloody red, Hiei felt a shock of fear in whole entire body. As he just stared into her eye, he felt a sword piercing through his jagan.

'AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!' Hiei yelled, holding his head and trying to take in the pain. As he fell asleep, Phire went over to him as thought to herself a little.

_'Hmph, I was right; by using the negative energy, I can use illusory moves to defeat the enemy,' _she thought as she carried him back to the tree base.

_'Power…power…power…that is what made…her strong… I want to be strong… just like that… just need… power… screw the limits… I'll go beyond for strength… and finally I can defeat my rival…Phire, help me get to that goal… **tomodachi**.'_


	8. Chapter 8, tough power decision pt II

Chapter 8: A tough decision for power, part II 

_'Hm, what is that smell?' _Hiei thought to himself as he woke up. He saw that he was wrapped in bandages, especially his jagan eye. He got up slowly, and it was even harder for him to get up for some odd reason.

'Phire?' he called out, up on his feet. There was no reply, but all there was, was a smell of good food.

'Phire!' he growled. 'Where the heck are you!' He kept growling, picking up the pace and going towards the food. He went into a assumingly kitchen, or else the place with food, and saw that there was a huge buffet of food In addition, there was a note on top of one of the containers.

_'Ramen? Sake? Sushi? Naruto **the food**? Panke-kis pancakes? Ju-su? Whoa, so much good stuff here,' _Hiei thought to himself. As he went to smell each of the foods, he went over to the note and read it. This was what the note read:

_**Hiei-kun,**_

_**I'm out for a while, stay safe, do whatever, be careful, and don't die. Do not dare to leave the area, as you will pay for that type of stupidity. Remember, you cannot get Timber and everyone else there, just wait or do whatever comes to your mind. I left a few hours ago, and I hope you like the food. I'll be back in a few hours, and don't forget to eat, okay? If you perish, what do you think I'm going to do with the corpse, bury it? Heck no, I'm not that type of demon. Well, you better hurry up and start the first of your life, if you get the hint I'm trying to convey to you. See you later, Hiei-kun.**_

_**Phire**_

'_Out, eh?' _Hiei thought to himself as he admired the katana designs. He wondered whether they meant anything or if they were just for decoration. Anyways, Hiei looked outside of the window, and then opened it.

'Well Phire, I'm not waiting to train with you; I'm going to train and when you come, we'll just see who the best warrior will be!' Hiei yelled out of the window. The sun was out, as it was around midday. He did sleep pretty much the whole day, anyways. He decided to eat pretty much most of it, but left some for Phire; it would be dishonorable to eat the whole thing.

As he went outside, he could smell the beautiful aromas of the pretty flowers. He wondered how it was possible for this type of 'advanced oasis' to exist. He took his katana out and looked for an area to train in.

After walking for many hours, he finally found a mountainous terrain, in which it was possible for one to train in. He didn't really leave the whole area, just the tree base. He started training by finding the toughest mountain, and kept hitting the strong point of it. He barely made any scratches and kept trying, but it was futile; there were no scratches on the mountain.

'_Kuso,' _he thought to himself, panting. It was 4 hours ago that he had found the note, and he thought that Phire would come early. Unfortunately, she didn't. He couldn't find any dents whatsoever and he decided to lye down and stared at the upcoming moon.

'_Hiei,' _the wind whispered. There was no voice, and yet Hiei could hear the words being said as the wind blew across his face. The night was hot, and he decided to take his shirt off. He kept it next to him, and when he had gotten up just a little to do just that, he heard a shriek.

'_That sounded like… Phire!' _Hiei thought. He forgot about his shirt and just left it there as he ran towards where he thought the sound came from.

Phire collapsed onto her knees viciously, but held her sword into the ground steadily. She couldn't just give up after so much.

'_Ku…so,' _she thought to herself, as she slowly got up and faced Kiyuna-sama.

'You have improved a little; you're getting up faster than before,' Kiyuna-sama told Phire, who was gritting her teeth. Her eyes were bloody red, and she was growling.

'Why did you send me here, anyways?' Phire growled at him, tired, but energetic at the same time.

'A certain _someone_ needed you,' Kiyuna told her, grabbing her chin and pulling her face towards him. 'Besides; everybody else is busy, and you were the only one who was available.' She quickly slashed him right after that and he was hurt badly on the face and chest.

'Well, _tatsujin, _what exactly is my assignment, training Hiei?' she asked, blood dripping down her face and arms. Kiyuna smirked.

'Well well, you've improved your acumen as well,' Kiyuna remarked. She glared pure torture at him, and he did feel it, but then stopped it as he head locked her. She kicked him right in the beep and as he loosened just a very slight, she bit him with her fangs and got out of the headlock.

'Leave me alone, Kiyuna, and just stay out of'- Phire stopped growling and everything was dead silent. She realized that she had no life; she was anti-immortal, and that did not mean mortal. She was just matter that had to be used, and nothing else. She was forced to obey Kiyuna, as he mostly was the one who controlled her. He smirked, and as he got up, he pulled Phire closer to him and hugged her, inappropriately touching her. She closed her eyes and had a low groan coming from her, and just stood there, just like a teddy bear in the arms of a child.

'Don't forget to do your job, Phire-chan,' he whispered to her as he punched her right in the stomach, his fist coming out of her mouth. All of her critical points were hit. As he left, she fell down and coughed out a ton of blood. She fainted slightly and just lay there motionless in the pool of blood. The only thing that was moving of her was her index finger in her right hand.

'_I smell blood; oh no, this isn't good,' _Hiei thought as he sensed Phire's presence closer. He had sensed a much more powerful force, but that was gone now, and he worried about Phire. As he approached a very strange looking area, he noticed a corpse in a huge pool of cold, depressing blood.

'PHIRE!' he yelled, rushing to her faster than he had ever gone within his life. He had skidded on his knees to reach her and checked her pulse.

'Phire! No! Crap! Her pulse his too low to even detect by the normal human, and I can barely feel it!' he yelled. He then heard low moans and Phire was getting up, and it was surprisingly the speed of Hiei at full energy, just being flicked by a finger, and getting up.

'Hiei,' she whispered as she let herself fall into his arms. He held her pretty close to him, and he felt a small teardrop trickling down his face.

'Hiei, why are you crying?' she asked as she lifted her head and faced him. She had a slight smile, as though a young innocent child had just tasted ice cream. He looked at her and hugged her tighter.

'What happened to you? Are you going to die? What's going on? What am I feeling?' he kept asking questions, as he closed his eyes and put her head against his chest. She closed her eyes and smiled.

'One, I was fighting my master. Two, I am not going to die. Three, I just realized that I have a very important reason to live. And four, I don't what your feeling, but I think we are too close,' she answered as she blushed. Her head was deep into his chest, and he nearly hogged her.

'Your _master?_' he asked as he gently put her down, new flowers of red blooming onto his face. She smiled at him, but then had a serious face and looked to the moon.

'You see, when I was 4, I had killed my whole family. I was then turned into darkness, so I pretty much ruled it for many years. I was then summoned into the body of one of the jewel warriors, and her name was Sapphire. I never had a true identity until I started forming into my own personality. I was separated from her, and I had my name Phire, which is half of the name Sapphire. The light side of me is dead, as I killed her. After many years, I was somehow 4 years old, and Kiyuna realized my power, and he took me into his 'army'. It consists of 6 male warriors, and since he was running out of people, he needed one more strong being, and he chose me. I passed the tests, and he "trained" me to become what I am now; a very useful toy which everybody wants,' Phire explained the whole thing, and her face was even more serious now. Hiei looked to her, and thought that what he went through was nothing compared to her.

'Phire,' he said as he placed his hand gently on her face. She looked up at him when he did, and her face was slightly red.

'…And my new goal is to train you,' she added in. 'Once I'm done with that… I'm out of here for good, and this world will rid of me until, well, who knows, and'- was the last thing she said before Hiei did one of the most strangest things; why, he kissed her cheek, slightly. She stayed quiet, and she was steaming with red.

'Even if you don't need to train me, you're staying here with me and the other guys,' he told her as he stopped. She looked to him, and her eyes were cerulean blue.

'You… _want _me to stay? But there is no point, and'-

'So I'm not your friend?' he interrupted, looking a little sad. She gasped quietly to herself, and looked strangely at him. She then had a flashback.

**Flashback starts**

'Aw, Phire, already?' Timber asked as she threw her last shurikan right at Phire, who caught it.

'Timber, I wasn't really supposed to stay for this long, but you needed me, so I stayed. You don't need me anymore, so what's the point of staying?' Phire asked, looking strangely at her.

'But I enjoy company! I'm not a loner anymore! Why can't you stay! Did I do something wrong! Phire! Please!' Timber started crying. She just met Phire a few months ago, and it was time to go already?

'No, Timber, that isn't it, it's'- Timber started crying even more, oceans of tears coming out from her.

'Phire, can't you stay because we are **friends!** Did that ever dawn on you! Or are you not allowed to stay for that?' Timber started screaming. Phire looked at her strange.

'_Tomodachi? I should stay because she is my… tomodachi?' _she thought to herself. She couldn't understand what was going on; Kiyuna would give her a mission, she completes it, and she leaves. What other reason was there for her to exist in the form of solid matter?

'I thought I could stop being a loner, but… but you're just like **everybody else! I HAD FRIENDS BEFORE, BUT THEY DITCHED ME, AND I BECAME A LONER, AND WHEN I MEET YOU, I THOUGHT I COULD BE SOMEONE, BUT NOW I CAN'T! HOW COULD YOU BE SO MEAN, PHIRE? AND YOU CALL YOURSELF A WORTHY WARRIOR! PA-THE-TIC!'** Timber screamed at the top of her lungs. Phire stood silent; was she really pathetic? She was mostly apathetic, but pitiable? She thought that only Kiyuna-sama pities her; now someone else?

'I'm sorry, but I'-

'NO! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE! WHY DID YOU RUIN MY LIFE, YOU FREAKING TURD! YOU SHOULDN'T BE ALIVE! YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO SAVE ME! I THINK I WOULD HAVE PREFERRED DEATH!' Timber continued yelling. Phire stood silent, and then was knocked unconscious by Kiyuna.

'Hmph, stop wasting her time or I'll kill you,' Kiyuna glared death at Timber as he picked up Phire. Timber's tears were oceans of Jupiter, and she just ran away, saddened even more than she was before she met Phire. Now she felt bad that she couldn't fight to keep Phire with her, and they could be friends forever.

**End flashback**

'Phire? You home?' Hiei waved his hand in front of the spaced-out Phire. She blinked and looked to him.

'Must friends stay for each other, life and death?' she asked him. 'Is it like true love, but different?'

'Of course Phire, did you just realize that?' Hiei asked, looking at her strangely. Phire looked at him, and her eyes were full of some sort of emotion; yet, she had no emotion. So what was it? Who knows…

'Oh Hiei, I'm sorry!' she apologized as she brought him down and hugged him. He blushed a little and hugged her back.

'Sorry? For what?' he asked, worrying about her.

'For being so stupid! I _can_ live and have a life! I can! I just never realized it, as I was just an emotionless tool for violence!' she yelled, hugging him tighter. Blood ran down her eyes she cries blood, not tears as she kissed him on the cheek.

'Did you get some sort of vision?' he asked, nuzzling her head a little. She shook her head and just put him next to her, and she almost fell asleep.

'No, just forget it. Let's sleep here, in temporary peace and tranquility, my dear _tomodachi,' _she told him as he kept an arm around her and let her sleep.

_'But if I deny power, will you still think of me as your friend?' _Hiei asked to himself, as he looked into the moon.

_'No, I will not deny power, I must train hard and get as strong as Phire, so I can protect Timber, Phire, and everybody else,' _he added into his thought as he drifted into La-la land.


	9. Chapter 9, tough power decision pt III

Chapter 9: A tough decision for power, part III 

The night was quiet as the fireflies swarmed through the air and lit up the sky even more. The flowers danced along with the wind, as the trees swayed here and there. Rabbits hopped around and went into their burrows. The moon was shining along with the light of the stars and the fireflies. Birds that camouflaged with the darkness soared through the air. This was the usual nighttime for Natura, a place that has many terrains, and they are all natural; no man-made matter existed in Natura.

Hiei woke up around 1 in the morning. It was still dark, and the darkness seemed to soothe him all around like chocolate in one's mouth. He was lying in a bed of carnations, and they melted along with the starry and darkened sky. As he got up, he saw gleaming butterflies wandering within the flowers with such a flirt and flutter.

_'What the… so Natura is much more beautiful in the night, eh?' _Hiei thought to himself as he slowly got out of the velvet-like carnation bed. He looked around, and he could taste the pure air of darkness.

_'This air of darkness… it tastes like special dark chocolate with hints of… kuso, I cannot analyze the whole thing,' _he told himself as he "licked" the air. He turned around and saw Phire sleeping in dirt and mud.

_'Why is she sleeping there? I should have been the one in mud; she deserved the carnation bed,' _Hiei thought to himself as he went over to her. She was sound asleep, or at least that was what Hiei assumed. As he went closer to her, he smelled blood; it was all over her. He took her arm and put it around his shoulder, and carried her to the bed of carnations.

_'What the… I feel… warm… no mud, no dirt…no blood… nothing, but warmth,' _Phire thought to herself as she started waking up. Hiei was beside the bed, watching her and wiping off her wounds. He also bandaged her with sleeves from his shirt.

'You're awake, Phire,' Hiei said as he put a band-aid on her face. Her eyes were fiery red, or else her normal eye color. She looked right at him, and blushed a little.

'What are you doing?' she asked, as she was trying to get up. He signaled her to just stay down.

'I'm helping your wounds,' he told her. 'Why? Do you not want your friend to help you? So I should just leave you like this? You stink like crap, you know,' he added in. She glared at him a little.

'It usually is normal for me to heal my own wounds by just sleeping,' Phire told him. 'But, if you really want to, I guess you can heal the wounds,' she added in, turning her head to the side, and glanced at the reflection of the moon, which was in the nearby lake.

'May I ask why you didn't get a bed, such as a tree, and just slept on the ground?' Hiei asked her, rubbing one of the wounds on her arms, so the bleeding would stop. She looked at him, and then smiled a little.

'I never sleep in beds; the trees are sacred, and I don't want them dying or getting stained. The only beds that are good are the carnations, sakura blossoms, and daffodils. They give warmth and the mud takes away the pain, as the flowers soothes you and relaxes one,' Phire explained to Hiei.

'Well Phire, knowing the type of warrior you are, you should really get a bed; you deserve it,' Hiei told her. Phire looked at him strangely.

'This whole world hates me for good deeds I do, and now you're telling me to get a bed? What is this human world coming to?' she said, puzzled. Hiei went to her and put an arm around her shoulder.

'Hey, you do deserve a bed even though you think that you may not seem worthy because of the pathetic humans,' Hiei explained to her. Before he could say any more, Phire interrupted him.

'And what am I going to do about the bed, sleep with you? You need the bed more than me; the carnation bed is the only one available at the moment,' Phire told him. As they both blushed, they started laughing and fell on top of each other. As a result, the gap closed rapidly, and stayed closed for a while; why, they really did treasure the sweet moment of friendship.

After a while, Hiei got up, but Phire was still sound asleep, assumingly. He went back to the arctic-like waterfall, and decided to start training there.

_'Br, it is cold again,' _he thought as he shivered. He shivered less this time, for some odd reason. As he finally reached, he went into the lake part of the waterfall, and stood still, shivering his "pants" off.

_'K-k-kuso,' _he thought as he forced himself to move. He slowly took his sword out and stabbed himself somewhere near the heart, but not at a critical point. As the pain spread rapidly, it was the same amount of chilliness that Hiei was feeling, and then there was a state of equilibrium; in other words, the two forces cancelled out. Hiei rushed under the waterfall, and as he started getting used to the coldness, his chest pained severely.

_'Why must I feel pain now?' _he thought as he held his chest. The force of the waterfall was so great, that he was on his knees, holding his chest. He growled, and his firepowers helped him ease the pain from the wound. Now it was only the waterfall he had to worry about.

_'I-I can do this with-without Ph-Phire,' _he told himself, gritting his teeth. He couldn't expect Phire to save him every time, now could he? He was finally off of one knee, but then as he got up within the speed of gravity, his back ached more than anyone could imagine. He stood still and let the crystal cold-water molecules "freeze" him in place.

_'M-m-must l-live with-with-out call-calling for h-help,' _he thought to himself as he gritted his teeth even harder, almost breaking them, and clenching his fists, making them bleed. His eyes finally opened, and blood was surrounding him everywhere. All of a sudden, his demonic pyro auraincreased dramatically, and he stood, able to flex himself, the fire power warding off the cold, chilly water that was rushing down onto him, and he was able to stand still with ease for a while. Finally, after many long hours, he collapsed; glad and angry that he could stand for that long.

_'M-must d-defeat Ph-Phire,' _he thought to himself before he went into a state of coma.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: A tough decision for power, part IV 

_'Ugh, what happened?' _Phire thought to herself as she woke up. The moon shone over her as she growled and woke up fully now. She thought to herself for a moment, and then went to the waterfall area.

_'I guess Hiei really wants power; guess I'll give him the offer for it,' _she thought to herself as she looked around for him. As she reached the area, she sensed a very powerful aura, and it was close to 1/3 of her strength! When she looked to see the creature or thing, it was Hiei!

_'Whoa; how did Hiei get this strong?' _she thought to herself in bewilderment. _'Well, he must have really been determined for power,' _she added into her strange thoughts. As she went over to him, she could feel fire coming out of his body hotter than any star that she had been to; of course, he wasn't as strong as her, but this was really astonishing for such a demon, besides Phire. She turned him around so he lay on his back, and he had a growl-like look on his face.

_'He wants more power and training; I'll of course give it to him if he is really up to it,' _she thought as she carried him out of the area. When she finally reached back to the garden area of Natura, she laid him down on the thickest patch of grass, which was surprisingly not too small, and a good size for Hiei, and opened his shirt. Blood surrounded him everywhere, and she cleansed him first before healing him fully.

_'He must have wanted to stay in a state of balance, so he stabbed himself,' _Phire thought as she wiped him with a towel. She then touched his chest, and a strange; blue/purple/black aura surrounded her hand, and then surrounded Hiei. His breathing increased, and was somewhat close to normal, and his hands moved. She hugged him tightly, and a drop of blood fell on the ground.

_'Timber didn't want power, but a friend, and got some power anyways; you want power, but will get a friend as well,' _she thought as more blood trickled down her face from her eyes. Her bloody tears showed the fate of Hiei; where they went, that is. That would show Hiei's true fate; or would it really? Who would ever know?

As the first ray of light shimmered within the trees and gently brushed over Hiei's face, along with a cool breeze that he could taste the white chocolate within it, he woke up slightly, and wondered what happened.

_'What! Bandaged? She found me! I was training! Maybe she will train me this time, before I do something hasty, like usual,' _Hiei thought to himself as he looked at the beautiful flora and fauna shining within the rays of the sun. He decided to get up, and looked for Phire, and found her in the kitchen, cooking ramen.

'Up so early, Hiei-kun?' Phire asked before he entered the kitchen. He wasn't surprised like usual, and just went inside and hugged her from behind. She stood still, and had a serious face, and spaced out. She then turned around and looked at him with a smiling face.

'Will you train me, Phire-san?' Hiei asked her, serious-faced. Her face turned serious as well, and she just looked at him.

'If you think you won't die during the two training sessions, fine,' Phire told him, as she teleported him to the log mat that was made by animals, and he just sat near it, and waited patiently for the ramen. As she turned around to make the ramen, he started asking questions.

'What do you mean?' he asked her, looking right at her, but at her back, as her back faced him. She shrugged.

'You'll see what I mean when we fight,' she told him as she turned around and had a tray that had ramen, sake, and sushi.

'I'll give you naruto the food if you're good after the two training sessions, so eat up,' she told him as she served him food. As he looked at her, she reminded him of an honorable warrior of war, instead of a beautiful hopeless maiden.

'Thanks,' she muttered as she read his thoughts. He glared at her, and she glared right back at him.

'Oh yea, I forgot,' he muttered, eating the noodles, slurping them up in nearly a few gulps. She looked outside of an opening of the leaves of the base, and sighed.

'What seems to be on your mind, Phire-san?' Hiei asked her, wondering if anything was to be told to him. She didn't answer, as she seemed to be in a trance.

'Phire?' Hiei asked, touching her shoulder. Before his hand touched her shoulder, though, a cold chill of blood went down his spinal cord.

_'For power… pain… for powerless… joy,' _was the though that entered his soul.

'Phire! Snap out of it!' he growled as he stood still and in pain. She looked at him, and her eyes were bloody red.

'Are you ready to become so powerful, you could fear yourself?' she asked, looking right into his eyes. He moved back, but finally understood how this was making sense.

'Yes, I am,' he told her, looking right at her with great difficulty. He even grabbed her face and looked at her. She didn't blink, but was a bit astonished; the amount of power for this type of determination should be limitless.

'You will be going through two training sessions,' she told him, leading him outside. 'That is all I am going to say. If you want more, I guess I can give you more; who knows, though,' she added in, stopping in her tracks after many an hour. They were in a mountainous and rough terrain; what Hiei didn't know was about the substances _underneath _the rough, hard surfaces.

'Well Hiei, we're here,' Phire told him as 5 shurikans were attempted to kill Hiei; why, he could only catch 2.

'Whoa,' he said as he spat out a little bit of blood.

'Are you really sure about this, Hiei?' Phire asked, a bit hesitant to go through with the training for him. He glared death at her.

'I've been waiting for someone to help me; of course I'm ready,' Hiei growled. 'I've _always _been ready, so **don't** hold anything back, Phire-san.'


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Shuugaku, part I of the Nibukyouju**

The night was one of terror; no animals were seen during the fight. Every once in a while, splashes of blood were forcefully "thrown" from Hiei. In other words, Hiei kept getting hit, and kept spitting out blood.

_'Crap. I didn't realize she was going this tough on me,' _he thought to himself. He wondered again, because her energy didn't seem as high as it usually is.

_'Is she even using her full energy? It doesn't even seem like it. Wait a minute! Is she trying to show me something?' _Hiei thought, as he observed her attacks. He never knew that she had such attacks as makura assault, akadei assault, _aisu no kagai_ ice assault, _Kasai no kagai_ fire assault, _raikou no kagai _lightning assault, etc. Half of these attacks were with her sword, too. She never seemed to show all of her attacks; did she just make them up and they worked?

_'So she's telling me that you can make up attacks, but you have to concentrate,' _Hiei thought, as he was a very far distance from her. He cleared the thunderstorm of his mind and it became peaceful. He thought as much as possible for an attack, and when she was right behind him, darkness surrounded her and threw her back into the air. She did a 360 and landed on her feet when she hit the ground.

_'Hm, I wonder if he just made it up. If he did, then he may soon be ready for part II of the **two-session system**,' _Phire thought to herself as she rubbed her neck. The attack seemed to impact her neck the most, and she was trying to figure out why.

_'Whoa, how did I do that?' _Hiei thought, as he felt tired. He then started getting more ideas for attacks; for example, a dark "jutsu", which could hold her in place, so then he could attack. He had to get a temporary one as holding one like Phire is a very tough task, and just for a few seconds isn't easy either, so he knew he had to be quick on his feet.

_'That's it!' _Hiei exclaimed to himself as he smirked out loud. '**Sutoppumo-shon no kagai!' Stop motion assault**

**_'Oh no,' _Phire thought as she quickly deflected the assault with her sword, and since it still wasn't enough to stop the full effect, she muttered, 'Teishijikan Stop time!' The whole thing cancelled out, but since Phire's attack was stronger, the time in the whole Natura area was stopped.**

**'Mujuuryoku Zero gravity!' Hiei yelled, causing Phire to go up into the air rapidly, and then he charged after her and punched her really hard right in the stomach, causing her to cough out blood…**

The fight continued for a long time, and no one seemed to be winning; Hiei, though, seemed to be tired, as well as Phire.

_'Should I use the shinsei assault? Or wait?' _Phire debated to herself in her mind, as she summoned a **_sanda-ba-do no yari_ thunder and lightning spear, and when Hiei attacked her with a dragon dark flame attack, she threw it directly at the weak point of the summon, and it hit him badly.**

**_'Perfect,' _Hiei muttered as he whispered within the wind _'hanshateki sanmenkyou _reflecting three-sided mirror._'_**

**_'Nani! He's gotten smarter,' _Phire thought, as she deflected all of the reflected attacks back to the mirrors last minute. She didn't realize that he would make up such a technique from the darkness.**

**_'Heh, awasekagami o yami _opposite mirrors in darkness_,' _Hiei muttered as the night had mist surrounding Phire, and dark waves were emitted from out of nowhere, and when she tried to dodge, it followed her everywhere she went.**

**_'Kuso,' _she thought, as she then used _kagami _mirror, and as she went through the liquid-like mirror, the wave bounced off, and bounced to one of the mirrors Hiei summoned, and kept bouncing off of the other two until it finally hit Hiei, but it was much more powerful.**

**_'So she knew my plan; of course, this is Phire I'm fighting, it isn't easy tricking her,' _Hiei thought as he flew back and hit a tree really badly. It wasn't a tree that Hiei hit, though. It was a demon _nezumitori _mousetrap.**

**_'Crap, I can't move!' _Hiei thought as Phire jumped onto him. He closed his eyes, and then opened them, and muttered, _'Agarime, noushi _eyes slanted upward, brain death_!' _Phire's eyes suddenly changed without her realizing it, as her eyes changed. Her irises became the shape of scarlet burning flames, and her pupils were faded.**

**_'Dojutsu no hangeki _eye technique counterattack_!' _she seemed to think as she took some damage from Hiei's attack, but then took her sword out and stuck it right through Hiei's activated jagan eye, or it seemed as though she stuck something in it, eh?**

**_'C-crap,' _he thought as he felt like passing out. **

**_'K-kuso,' _Phire growled as she let Hiei out of the demon nezumitori, and jumped off, holding her head. **

**'Phire's down?' Hiei chuckled, getting up. Phire's eyes opened, and they were normal.**

**_'How did I do a dojutsu counter, and how did Hiei do a dojutsu attack?' _she thought to herself, confused. _'I thought only ninjas used such things.'_**

'Something wrong, Phire? Ready to give up and tell me that I'm strong enough now?' Hiei chuckled again, going over to her. She got up and glared pure death at him.

'Congratulations, you passed part I of the two-session system,' she muttered, rubbing the part of her head that hurt like crap.

'Oh really? So what is the second part going to be, me getting to kick your ass?' Hiei joked, laughing maliciously. She raised an eyebrow.

'How ironic! I'm the one who's going to kick the stuff out of you,' Phire had a small smirk, was right behind Hiei, and elbowed his back really hard, so he went deep into the ground, around 400 feet deep.

_'Damn, she's fast at temporary healing,' _Hiei thought as he went down. When he was about to go beyond 400 feet, he put his hand down on the ground part, and summoned an enormous amount of demonic dark aura into his hand, and it accelerated him up, and when he was about to punch Phire right in the face, he moved his hand back last minute and tackled her face with his, causing her to fall back dangerously.

'So when do you want to start?' she asked, wiping the blood off of her forehead. He smirked.

'Well, warm-up time is over, Phire-san,' Hiei chuckled as the fight continued; more like began.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: ****Yuushoureppai, part II of the Nibukyouju**

The sounds of swords clashing filled the air as the fight began. Many elements were racing to distract the enemy, while others were negating the attacks.

'Makura assault; 1st kyu 1st rank!' Phire growled, her eyes glowing bloody red. Darkness came into her hand just like Yondaime's rasengan, and then waves of darkness were directed from behind Hiei. As he dodged those, another wave of darkness attacked, and as he dodged 2 more waves, Phire ended up right in front of him and put the "dark rasengan" into Hiei.

_'K-kuso,' _he thought as he coughed out blood, but then grabbed Phire's wrist, and sent a shock of dark lightning into her. She took the pain as she bit him right in the neck, weakening it. Hiei growled, causing it to increase the pain Phire was feeling, and Phire bit harder because of the pain, so it was like a cycle.

_'Shinsei… assault,' _Phire thought as she kinetically got her sword out, and it stabbed Hiei right in the back, nearly slicing his spinal cord. She then summoned the moon to come out.

_'Shinsei counter!' _Hiei thought to himself as he tried to summon a shield, so it would negate the divine waves that would attack him. Unfortunately, it only blocked out 36 of the radiation; the other 64 hit him badly, and then Phire had the advantage.

'Yami no shinsei!' Dark divinity Phire growled. The moon started to become darker, and hints of dark blood were apparent. The moon emitted waves of dark divine into Phire, and then she struck Hiei's Jagan eye, as Hiei was thinking to himself, _'Kenpei nami no bakuha' _Power wave blast, striking Phire right in the stomach. As they both coughed out blood, Hiei grabbed Phire's neck, but then lost the grip as she lifted him by sticking her fist into his stomach, lifting him, throwing him into the air, and then increased the regular 9.8 N gravity to 67.8 N gravity, sending Hiei right through the Earth, and into space.

_'Kuso,' _he thought as he tried to regain balance and somehow fly up.

'Da-ku no dageki!' Dark strike he growled, as he took his sword out, raced against time and space as he went into orbit, and then threw his sword with such an enormous force, right at Phire's forehead.

_'I sense something,' _Phire thought as she blocked the sword, but it went through her hand, and making it extremely numb to the stage of almost becoming paralyzed.

_'I hope I got her this time,' _he thought as he raced down into the troposphere from the exosphere, and charged right for Phire, but then as she moved, he grabbed her ankle and twisted it.

'Ow!' she growled as she broke his wrist when she grabbed it. He growled as well in pain, and then the two fell on top of each other.

'Pinned you down, Hiei,' Phire told him telepathically as she stuck her sword into his throat, and by using kinesis, she had 4 shurikans pin his wrists and ankles.

'Great, Phire,' he said, somewhat sarcastically. 'I feel much stronger, though. Now when do you want to start the death match? I think the practice is enough.'

'Hiei, when you learn how to heal yourself, we'll get to the death match,' Phire told him. 'But for now, are you sure you don't want me to heal you?' Hiei growled at her asking him that.

'Phire, the day you aren't there to heal me, I should learn to get over pain quick and fast until the match is completely over. I want to keep fighting you,' Hiei told her, his eyes glowing bloody red, somewhat near Phire's bloody red eye color.

'In addition,' he added in before Phire could say anything, 'you are the only one who can hold out for as long as I want to. Everybody else who trained me needed breaks; you personally don't care, right?' Phire smiled very slightly. She may have trained great warriors, but for someone to dare say such a comment that could get them killed, she was highly impressed of Hiei.

'Well then,' Phire told him as she stuck a kunai directly down his throat through his mouth, 'prove to me that you aren't bluffing about what you just said. It is true; I could train you for more than a year continuously. It all depends upon whether _you _want to be up for it or not.' Hiei coughed up more blood than ever.

_'Shin…shinte…shinteki…no…da…dage…ki,' _Hiei thought, as he was trying to form a new mental attack. Lucky enough for him, it worked. Phire felt a piercing shot of pain within her head, and loosened her grip very slightly, but it was enough for Hiei to get out of the shurikans, as they were controlled by her mind, not her physical strength. He then pushed her off and was on top of her. He quickly stuck his sword through her neck, but instead of going straight so it would pin her to the ground, he decided to worsen Phire's condition by sticking it up, severely damaging her brain, including the medulla oblongata, and the cerebrum, but instead of just stopping, he hurt her cerebellum, and then went down, destroying nearly every organ she possessed, but when he got to her "heart", his power started weakening. It was as if her "heart" was absorbing the demonic aura that Hiei was using.

_'How can Phire control her heart if I already destroyed most of her brain?' _Hiei thought, trying to get his sword out of her. It wouldn't come out, and Hiei got off, but didn't take his sword. It started melting, and Phire was healing, but didn't use her energy to heal; instead, the aura she absorbed from Hiei was used to heal her brain and other organs.

_'No freaking way,' _Hiei thought as he saw her "heart". He didn't open her chest, but did make a hole where her heart would be a small one, and fainted after looking into her "heart".

_'Now I'm convinced that having a dark heart is much more beneficial in battle than one of the light,' _Phire thought as she started beating the stuff out of Hiei, using physical strength. He couldn't move, as he felt his energy draining from him.

_'Ph-Phire,' _Hiei was telling her something telepathically. _'Ph-Phire… your heart is filled with nothing… how do you live with nothing and everything? How is your heart so cruel, and yet we are friends? You aren't evil, and you aren't good… you aren't even neutral, whom goes against the two… what are you? I want a similar type of heart… one that won't interfere with emotions… just like you… **kyomu no tomodachi**.'_

Even though Phire kept attacking him, her attacks were a very slight bit weaker, maybe by around .89, not even 1. If she were to stop, Hiei would growl at her with whatever energy he had, and that would worsen his stamina, so Phire kept attacking, and held nothing back.

_'Hiei, I am more than just a demon with dark powers,' _was all that Phire told him. She gave another blow, and suddenly, a poisonous kunai was aimed at her, and she used Hiei as a shield, so it went through him, and affected him worse.

'PHIRE, STOP TRYING TO KILL MY BOYFRIEND!' a voice growled through the night. It didn't stop Phire, though. It only made her use much more weaker attacks. Hiei woke up, and told Phire to stop, as he needed to talk to Timber.

_'Hai, Hiei-kun,' _Phire telepathically told him as she lay him down on the hard, rocky surface. Timber ran over to Hiei and pushed the weakened Phire down the mountain.

_'Obutsu, _garbage, but it is used for the word meaning, "crap"_' _Phire thought to herself as she gained balance within the air and flew back up with a bit of difficulty.

_'Well, at least Hiei has improved by a dramatic crescendo,' _Phire added into her thought, looking at Timber hugging Hiei, cuddling him like a stuffed teddy bear within her arms.

'Hiei, why did she do such a thing to you? I'm so sorry,' Timber told Hiei. Her eyes became of ones like _akisame _autumn rain, and as they left her eyes, Hiei could feel a dense _hitonami _stampede within his heart; why, he felt how badly Timber wanted to kill Phire in that same moment she mourned over not being able to protect Hiei.

'Timber, it'-

'No Hiei-chan, don't speak,' Timber interrupted her, hugging him tighter. He hugged her back, but tried to calm her down. It was technically his fault for getting the wounds.

'But Timber,' Hiei explained, 'it wasn't her fault.'

'What do you mean?' Timber asked, confused.

'_I _asked it from her; _I_ asked her to _train_ me,' Hiei continued after Timber asked her question. Timber looked aghast; her face paled and she was thinking that Hiei was brainwashed by Phire, so he was saying such words.

'Oh no!' she screamed, hugging him tighter. 'She performed _sennou no jutsu_brainwashing technique _on you!' _Hiei looked to her and kissed her deeper, and with much more passion, than the amount of pain a mother goes through for her son. Timber froze, and as she kissed him back, he pulled back after 5 minutes, and explained to her again that it wasn't Phire's fault, and she pretended to be convinced.

'Well Hiei, I have to get you healed,' Timber told him, 'so I'll take you home personally, and then we'll do whatever you want.'

'Uh… hai, Timber-san,' Hiei agreed, and fell asleep. As she took him home, Phire watched from the shadows.

_'Maybe it is time to leave for good, then,' _Phire thought to herself, _'unless of course, Hiei wants me to stay… at this rate, if Timber finds out, I doubt I can stay here alive.'_ After this thought, she left back to Natura, and when she got to her base, she looked through her research and the books she wrote.

'Something wrong, Phire-san?' a voice asked within the shadows of the wind.

'Nothing, Hinote-ni-chan,' Phire answered. She turned to him, and he was wearing dark flare jeans, along with a muscle top. He touched her shoulders and started giving Phire a massage.

'Don't give that crap to me, sis,' he told her, trying to make her feel comfortable. She sighed.

'I need to help Hiei with his training, but his girlfriend doesn't want me to hurt him, and has the wrong idea, and thinks that I'm killing him on purpose,' Phire told him, lying her head back, facing him. He chuckled.

'That seems to be a hard mission, now doesn't it?' he asked, flicking her forehead. She growled, and then sank into her chair.

'Well, if you want to beat Kiyuna, why don't you do it yourself?' Hinote asked.

'You know how powerful Kiyuna is; besides, the others, like Mizu, are still on his side. You and I are the only ones who are against him, and there is a weakness in Kiyuna that Hiei only knows, not us. I've tried researching it for years and years to come by, and yet I haven't found out anything,' Phire explained to him. He looked serious now, and thought for a while.

'So you are training Hiei to become nearly as strong as you, so when you take Kiyuna down, and he's weakened, but then Kiyuna assumingly might poison you, Hiei will take over and then Kiyuna will finally die, right?' Hinote analyzed the situation from what he knew and what could happen, according to him.

'Hai,' she said, relieved that he finally figured it out. 'I think Hiei just needs a tad bit more training, and he'll be at my level, which is a totally different level from everybody,' she added in. Hinote nodded.

'Yo, let _me _continue his training. I'm at your level too, you know… I _am _much stronger when using regular fire powers than you, you know,' Hinote whispered into her ear. She looked up, a little startled, but it was true; she was the best at darkness, while Hinote was the best at nearly all types of fire.

'Good luck, then,' she told him as she got up. Before she went into her room, she stopped.

'Don't forget; Natura sector 12, 1, 11, 5,' Phire told him as she started leaving. He nodded.

_'I won't fail you, Phire; I'm on your side for this fight… but are you sure that Hiei will permanently kill Kiyuna?' _Hinote thought as he left.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Kibuntenkan change of pace 

'Timber, what happened to Hiei?' Kurama asked upon the arrival of the two lovebirds. Timber didn't answer.

'Kurama, Hiei's sleeping in your room, as you have all of the medical stuff,' Timber told him sternly. Kurama was surprised to see Timber so serious.

'Hai, but where's Phire?' Kurama asked, worried about her as well. Timber twitched upon hearing Phire's name, but didn't answer.

'Your girlfriend tried to _kill_ Hiei,' Timber muttered, as she laid Hiei on Kurama's bed. Hiei was sleeping, and didn't hear her. Kurama gasped.

'That isn't possible; the two have a _tomodachigai _true friendship!' Kurama screamed, checking Hiei's wounds. Timber was half-right; Phire was the one who attacked Hiei, but she failed to realize that Phire was helping Hiei train.

'Well then why did she attack Hiei, huh?' Timber demanded an answer. Kurama shrugged, but then had an idea.

'She was probably training him that hard; Hiei has looked for such a creature that could help him train like that,' Kurama explained to Timber, but she was stubborn, and didn't want to listen.

'No! Hiei wouldn't die for such stupidness!' she growled, closing her ears and eyes. Kurama sighed.

'Believe what you want; it will never be the truth,' he muttered as he wrapped bandages around Hiei. Timber ran outside, and Genkai had just arrived after hearing what happened to Hiei from Kurama.

'Are you okay, Timber?' Genkai asked, going over to her. She was crying her eyes out.

'Iie no!' Timber growled, still crying. Genkai noticed that Phire wasn't around; why, she was the one that would once in a while help Timber cheer up.

'_Doushita, _Timber-san what's the matter, Timber-san?' Genkai asked. Timber looked up at her.

'I don't want Phire training Hiei anymore!' Timber screamed at the top of her lungs. She really didn't want to lose Hiei; why, he was the most precious thing to her, much more precious than a best friend!

'Ittaizentai What on earth? Naze?' Genkai asked. Phire wouldn't kill Hiei, would she?

'Maybe I should get some training from her, then, eh?' Genkai joked around a little, but Timber was serious this time.

'_ZAMAWOMIRO _see what happens!' Timber growled, still crying. 'YOU'LL DIE, OLD HAG!'

'Then let me see Hiei's condition; it couldn't be that bad,' Genkai said, looking for Hiei. Timber couldn't take any more of this and just ran away.

_'Phire, you almost took away my youkou sunshine… I'll take away whatever seems to be most precious of yours,' _Timber growled to herself, running, trying to see if she could spy on Phire.

'KUWABARAKUWABARA!' Genkai yelled as she saw Hiei's condition. Blood was still flowing despite the bandages, and he could barely move.

'Shato shut!' Kurama whispered in a yell. Hiei needed peace, and yelling would just make the pain in his head worse.

'Oh, moushikaneru I'm sorry to trouble you,' Genkai apologized as she left. She felt bad and didn't want to make the wound worse.

_'Is Phire really that powerful? She is very strange, but trying to kill Hiei? I doubt it, but the wounds…' _Genkai kept thinking to herself. She decided to ask Phire herself, so she left. Before she left, though, she kept Keiko in charge of the place.

'Ku…ra…m…a,' Hiei whispered in a very low whisper as he woke up, still very hurt. Kurama looked to him.

'Hai, Hiei?' he said, going over to him.

'Sumimasen sorry,' Hiei told him as he knocked him out with a miraculously huge amount of strength. As Kurama fell, Hiei caught him and put him in bed, and covered him, as well as tied him with the bandages.

_'Hm, he looks like a mummy; whoops, I overdid it,' _Hiei thought to himself. He chuckled a little, but then left.

_'Ow, Hiei has gotten much stronger,' _Phire thought as she healed herself. She held her arm in her hand and gritted her teeth. _'Kuso, Timber, he could've come to my level… if you didn't interrupt…' _she added into her thought as she looked at her reflection in the river. She had gone back to Natura.

_'Hmph, same reflection as usual; wonder what my deceived appearance looks like,' _Phire thought to herself as she glanced upon darkness swiveling around, forming the shape of a demon Phire. Hints of dark blue and blood red were there, making the darkness more tempting for others to desire than anything.

_'Crap, I sense Timber and… Genkai?' _Phire thought to herself as she sensed the presence of two beings with power. She teleported away, and then made a clone of herself, and kept it near the river, so Timber would fight the clone, not Phire.

'_Phire_…' Timber growled in a low growl. Her claws came out, and her wolf form was starting to truly awaken for once.

'Timber…' Cl. Phire told her, looking right at her. Timber sniffed to see if it really were Phire, and assumed it was; she didn't sense anything less or more.

'Phire, SAIKORO KATAI die hard!' Timber growled at Phire, rushing at her, the full moon's luminous radiance shining down on her like a spotlight.

'Aisu ice,' Phire said calmly, summoning an ice wall, causing Timber to hit it. Timber's eyes gleamed lavender within the moonlight, causing her to become stronger than she already is.

'Shakaku angel of fire,' Timber muttered, a spirit right behind her. It was an angel of fire! Timber held her hands out, and then broke down the ice wall with fire.

_'She might be able to summon an angel,' _Phire thought, as she didn't move; fire never affected her, so it didn't matter. _'She might be able to summon an angel… but can the angel handle the devil-like powers I locked away years ago?' _she thought, closing her eyes. When she opened them, she completely changed. Her eyes were those of evil. She had stitched, and blood flowed from them. Even her sword transformed, and it was like the devil's sword.

_'Nani!' _Timber gasped, backing away. She always knew Phire was never evil, but Phire had an evil side? Since when did she have those powers? Timber never found out; besides, she was knocked out right after she thought about the questions.

After a while, Genkai found Timber and gasped, along with the gasping mice from the fairly odd parents.

'Timber! Timber!' Genkai tried to wake her up, but she wouldn't wake up. She was merely knocked unconscious, and that too it was painful.

_'I guess I have to take you back first,'_ Genkai thought as she carried Timber out of there.

_'Hiei,' _the wind whispered. Hiei was at a lake in Natura. He was energetic, and needed to finish his training with Phire.

'Phire, come out,' he said, taking his sword out. He stopped, though, and thought for a minute, but was a minute too late; he was attacked.

'Nani!'He growled, clashing swords with the mysterious person. When Hiei was sniffing the enemy, it seemed a bit weaker than Phire, but it seemed really close to her. When he sensed the elemental power, though, it surpassed Phire's regular state.

'Yo,' the mysterious person greeted Hiei. His eyes gleamed with radiant fire, and his position stated that he was a sort of hunter, but more like a warrior, just not like Phire, though.

'Who are you?' Hiei asked, glaring death at him. He chuckled.

'I am Ranpu Hinote,' he told him. Hiei looked strangely at him.

_'Ranpu? Wasn't that Phire's last name?' _he thought. At one point, Hiei had found her wallet during training, and smashed it right in her face, but he had seen her ID card, and he remembered seeing Ranpu on it.

'Well, Juganshi Hiei,' Hinote told him, 'aren't you going to fight me? Or did Phire weaken you that bad? She is a mighty fine beast for one thing, but she, or else my cousin, is one of the best warriors, even though I am better than her.'

'How did you know my name?' Hiei glared at him, Hiei's eyes turning black with hints of blood. Hinote noticed.

_'So Phire seriously trained you,' _he thought. Hiei heard him and answered.

'Yea she did, why?' Hiei asked, looking at him. Hinote chuckled again, but had an evil glint in his eye.

'Well, I guess you really have no clue at the moment, right?' he said as he suddenly pinned Hiei to the lake. Hiei got out, and then head locked Hinote, who dodged him and burned Hiei's wrist, causing it to numb.

'You see, Phire is powerful, but when it comes to true fire temperatures and fighting, I definitely overpower her,' he told Hiei, who growled. The fire that Hinote used seemed to burn much more than Hiei could handle, and was more painful than Phire's fire attacks, only because the temperature was about 3,478 K more!

'So you are basically training me now? What about Phire?' Hiei asked, quickly shuffling back with a jump.

'Yes I am, and she has to heal her wounds; this was one of the first times I've seen her hurt this bad,' Hinote told Hiei. 'Besides, she didn't want to summon her actual strength; she rarely does, and she knows that she needs to summon it in your case, but she didn't want to hurt you with it,' Hinote added in.

'Really? She did seem weaker when we fought,' Hiei said, thinking, but keeping his guard up.

'So are you ready to start or what?' Hinote asked, but Hiei already slashed his back badly with his katana.

'I've _always _been ready,' Hiei smirked as the two fought.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Hantaishoku, niiro clashing colors, red Part I 

'As a kid would take a huge tube with red pain in it, he is innocent, and does what a kid would normally would do, and squeeze it, causing the red paint to splatter all around. The grass is red, the poster board is red, and everything is red. The small kid then takes the paint brush and puts red paint on it, and paints everything; rocks, trees, the already soggy poster board, as well as himself. His brother, who is around the same age, comes out and rolls around the grass, and then tries to climb the tree. As a result, the boy's clothes, hands and face are stained with the deep, blemishing red paint. The two then get more red paint, and start splashing each other with it. They are so innocent, and _when the fight is over, everything is covered with the deep, passionate, and fiery like colors of red,' _Phire described most of the fight to herself as she wrote it within her notebook.

_'I just hope that Hinote didn't kill him,' _Phire thought, but knew that Hinote wouldn't do such a thing, especially knowing that Phire controlled _'Gogyou no katana,' _or else the 5 elements katana. The thing is, that sword did not just contain the 5 elements; since Phire wielded it, the elements that were included were darkness, darker versions of the 5 elements, and even _Tsuki _elements moon elements, or else like _tsuki fire, tsuki divine, _etc.Anyone else who was to have it would only get the 5 elements, with the exception of Hiei. Hiei would get less than Phire, but he was strong too, so darkness would be added.

'Get up, Juganshi,' Hinote growled, stepping on Hiei, who struggled to get up. Hiei wasn't fully healed when he started regaining his strength, and fighting someone who was better with fire than him Hiei was very difficult at the moment. Just then, Hiei had an idea.

_'Now where is the weak point,' _Hiei thought as he tried to find a weak point in Hinote's feet. Hinote yelped in pain when Hiei found it, and as Hiei took advantage by sending shocks down through the foot to the brain, Hiei was half way to defeating Hinote.

_'Kuso,' _Hinote thought to himself as he tried to get up, but Hiei stabbed him with his sword, pinning him to a tree.

'Now tell me where Phire-san is,' Hiei asked, glaring death at Hinote, who looked right back at him the same way.

'I don't know,' Hinote chuckled, and then coughed out blood. The blood turned into fire when it hit the ground. Hiei moved back, and Hinote was right behind him.

'Too slow,' Hinote whispered as he backstabbed Hiei. Hiei coughed out blood, but then sent electric shocks through the sword, shocking Hinote, and close to knocking him out.

'Now tell me where she is,' Hiei growled. Hinote looked at him seriously this time, and told him the same exact answer. Hiei kicked him when he tried to get up, and then he fell down, unconscious. Hiei was about to kill him, but all of a sudden, he felt a force hold him back. He smiled lightly and closed his eyes as he started putting his sword back in a sheath, and whispered something.

'What took so long, Phire-san?' were the words Hiei whispered as Phire appeared next to him.

'Sutoppu, Hiei,' Phire told Hiei. 'He's my cousin.' Hiei widened his eyes, and then looked at Phire, then at Hinote, and then at Phire, and kept going back and forth until he started feeling dizzy.

'Doushite how?' Hiei asked Phire, tired a little from the fight. Phire sighed, but then explained it to Hiei.

'Oh, I see,' Hiei said after she explained the whole story. 'Well, then why did he fight me instead of you fighting me?' Hiei asked, narrowing his eyes at Phire.

'Well, I told him to,' Phire told Hiei directly. Hiei nearly attacked Phire when she ended up right behind him and head locked him, and then explained to Hiei why.

'The only reason was because you should have a feel of more enemies, and if you can deal with a variety of foes, you'll be the best,' she told Hiei. Hiei thought about it for a moment, and then sighed, and Phire let go of him, just to trip him again.

'You still want to fight me despite the damage you've taken?' Phire asked, getting her sword out of the sheath. Hiei got up with ease and have an evil smirk along with a chuckle.

'Why not?' Hiei asked, his sword in his hand, his eyes on fire. Hinote chuckled.

'Wow, Phire, you've got a great friend there with dedication and lacks giving up,' Hinote told Phire, leaving. Phire looked to him, but she didn't go off guard. She stayed in a defensive position, and Hiei continued fighting. It went on for about a week, and at one point, Hiei pinned Phire in such a way to the ground that she could barely get out. She, of course, used her head, and when that statement was said, Hiei had a headache.

'Phire, you didn't have to hit me so hard with your head,' Hiei told her as he tried to get up. Phire rubbed her head.

'I didn't realize that you had a hard head, Hiei-kun,' Phire told him. Before Phire was going to attack, though, she sensed something so evil; she stopped, and pushed Hiei out of the way, taking the hit of a very poisonous arrow.

'Phire! Phire!' Hiei yelled, checking to see if she were okay. Unfortunately, poison was the one thing Phire could not bear throughout her whole life.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Hantaishoku, niiro, part II 

'Why, what do we have here?' the evil stranger approached Phire and Hiei, but seemed to have his attention towards Phire. She was moaning in pain so unbearable, so painful, it was worse than hell.

'Who are you?' Hiei growled, blocking his sight of Phire by standing in front of her. She looked up at Hiei, and her eyes turned bloody red, but had hints of calm, ocean blue within them.

'R-run, H-iei,' Phire whispered, trying to get up. Hiei glanced at her and thought that she was drunk or something for her to tell him that.

'Are you crazy, Phire? I'm not leaving you,' Hiei told her telepathically.

'Aw, Phire-chan, you have a little _kareshi_ boyfriend supporting you, how cute,' he told Phire. Phire glared death at him, or at least tried to. He was about to slash her throat when Hiei clashed swords with him.

'Leave her out of this,' Hiei growled, his eyes gleaming with green moonlight. Phire coughed out dark blood.

'Hiei-kun, this is… is… my…sensei,' Phire told him, trying to get up. Hiei picked her up and moved back.

'And she's NOT my girlfriend!' Hiei growled. 'She's my _meiyuu _sworn friend' Hiei told Kiyuna. Phire looked up at him in surprise. Blood dripped down her face from her eyes as she coughed out more blood, and then rested her head against his chest, tired.

'Yea yea, deny it all you want; you two look too cute together to be saying that you guys are just friends,' Kiyuna chuckled and told them, leaving. 'Phire, you remember that it is time to go; I mean, you finished your job, right?' Kiyuna asked her. Phire did finish her job, but she was so attached to Hiei, she didn't _want _to leave, but she never had her way, what made her thought that after so many years, she'd get her way?

'Well,' Phire started, but then Kiyuna snapped, and Phire was thrown into the air by gravity that Kiyuna controlled. Kiyuna grabbed Phire and was about to teleport, but then Hiei bit his arm, getting a piece of his sleeve off, as well as flesh and blood.

'Hiei-kun,' she muttered as she fainted. Hiei pushed Kiyuna hard to the ground, but then Kiyuna teleported out of there with Phire.

'PHIRE!' he growled, trying to grab her out of his grip, but it was too late; she was gone. Hiei fell on his knees and with his fists, made fissures by punching the ground.

'Kuso, she's gone! Only because I'm such a friggin weakling!' Hiei growled out loud. He looked up into the sky, and it started turning normal. He looked into his hand, and had the piece of cloth.

'Kiyuna, when I find you, you are going down!' Hiei growled. 'And I'm going to take everything away from you!'

'Hiei, there you are!' a relieved yell called out to Hiei. Hiei looked and it was Genkai holding Timber. Hiei immediately ran and got Timber out of her grasp.

'What's going on?' Genkai asked Hiei. Hiei didn't answer.

'Who did this to Timber?' Hiei asked, his eyes gleaming with fire like no other type. Genkai sighed.

'You see, she went out looking for Phire to kill her, but Phire just knocked her out with ease, not trying to kill her, and didn't,' Genkai explained to the worried and anxious Hiei. He sighed in relief that her damage was only minor. Hiei hugged Timber tightly, and the purest tears splashed on the grass.

'Hiei, you're crying,' Genkai told him, smiling a little. Hiei growled; he couldn't be crying; he had too much at stake and needed to fight; there was no time for emotions!

'Genkai, once Timber is fully healed, I will have to be going somewhere important,' Hiei told her, holding Timber tighter and closer than usual. He held her tight and snug, but then carried her bridal style as Genkai and Hiei left back to the others.

'Hiei, where's Phire?' Genkai asked. A small tear trickled down his face when she mentioned Phire's name, but he shook his head and sped up. As he reached, Timber woke up.

'Hiei-chan!' Timber exclaimed in a weak yet happy voice as she hugged him. He smiled for once and hugged her back.

'Timber, listen to me carefully,' Hiei told her as he put her down gently once they got inside. Everybody was in the living room waiting, and they greeted Genkai and Hiei.

'What is it, Hiei-chan?' she asked, glad to have the sunshine come out of the thunderstorm.

'I'm not brainwashed, and I really did ask Phire to go as hard on me as possible in training,' Hiei explained. He didn't have time; who knows what would happen to Phire, especially in the hands of Kiyuna, someone related to the devil. He couldn't take any chance whatsoever.

'But Hiei,' Timber tried to tell him that Phire almost killed her, or what Timber assumed, but Hiei wouldn't stop. He was just so confused. He loved Timber so much, and Phire meant a lot to him, as she was his _meiyuu._ He didn't know what to do.

'No, really Timber, Phire didn't try to hurt you; she only knocked you out for a while because you attempted to attack her,' Hiei told Timber. Timber felt like crying; she couldn't bare the fact that her best friend attacked her _nushi_ in this case, lover, but Timber knew that Phire wouldn't do such a thing, knowing how close as friends to Hiei she was.

'I see,' Timber said, looking down. She then started crying.

'What is it, Timber?' Hiei asked, feeling bad that she was crying again. He just wanted Timber to be happy, and he wanted to be with her and have a happy life with her, but he was tearing apart as he couldn't be happy or cheer up anyone at the moment. What was he to do?

'I'm sorry!' she said as she kissed him. Hiei kissed her back with the utmost passion that anybody could show to his or her partner, and hugged her tighter.

'Timber?' Hiei broke the kiss after many a minute 30 minutes.

'Hai?' she asked, awaiting the words of whatever Hiei had to say. Hiei was about to tell her about Phire, but remembered that Phire told him not to tell anybody, so he had to do something, but didn't want to.

'I'm sorry, but you won't remember anyways, so,' he said as he knocked her out badly. Everybody gasped, but then he knocked them all out, too.

_'Phire-san, I'm coming for you,' _Hiei told her telepathically as he ran through the forest. He sniffed the cloth, and he sensed that Kiyuna was in the underworld.

_'Hiei, will you let Phire die, or agree to losing your love?' _Kiyuna's evil voice filled the background.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: "Tomodachigai, or Netsuai?" part I 

Kiyuna went over to Phire, who was chained up in poisonous chains, and injected more poison into her. She was about to growl, but Kiyuna put his hand over her mouth. She couldn't breathe through her nose, and now her mouth was blocked. She nearly suffocated, but Kiyuna let go, and she growled louder than a kid losing a doll.

'Don't…' Phire was trying to tell Kiyuna something. Kiyuna looked at her as he snapped, and Timber was chained next to Phire.

'Don't what?' Kiyuna asked Phire, putting extra chains on Timber, who was nearly suffocating from them. Kiyuna left with an evil laughter, and Phire struggled to cope up with the poison. She couldn't die; and the pain that people could feel but they don't because they die was the pain she was feeling, and she was nearly losing her voice.

'Tim…ber,' Phire tried to wake Timber up. Timber wouldn't wake up, but she was breathing.

_'He gave her a sleeping drug, kuso,' _she thought to herself. Phire struggled to get out, but the poison consumed her so much, and they just took away her energy, she could barely move. She knew what she had to do, and it was for the better; at least, that is what she thought.

Hiei never stopped running despite his muscles aching badly. He finally found the underworld after 2 days exactly from the day he started. When he tried to enter, the guards wouldn't let him, but he took them down with ease; the fury in him would explain how he had gotten extremely powerful.

_'Phire, where are you? I just reached the underworld,' _Hiei telepathically tried to reach Phire. Phire heard him, but decided against answering; her head was consumed and damaged badly, the message wouldn't reach Hiei.

_'Kuso, she won't answer, but I know she's in here,' _Hiei thought. _'She couldn't have been hurt that bad, could she?' _ Just then, a trail of fire ignited, and strangely enough, it was as though it was meant to show the way to Hiei.

_'How obvious! Of course, a trail of fire makes sense, especially in this type of place,' _Hiei thought as he followed it. It would twist and turn, and when it stopped, Hiei almost fell off of a cliff.

_'Holy monkey,' _he thought to himself as he wiped the hot tears off of his forehead. He looked to see a clearing, and it looked like an arena.

_'An arena in a place like this?' _Hiei thought, but then thought of another idea. _'Of course, Kiyuna must be nearby,' _Hiei added into his thought as he ran down to the arena. When he reached, there was a chilly wind going past Hiei's face. It cooled him down, but then it was icy wind.

'Come out, Kiyuna,' Hiei growled, getting away from the wind. It turned into ice, and then it exploded. Hiei realized that it was an ice bomb; first it freezes on contact, and then exploded.

'Very clever intuition, Hiei,' Kiyuna told Hiei as he stabbed him in the back with a kunai. Hiei growled and kicked him right in the shin, but then Kiyuna exploded and the real Kiyuna came out.

'You fool; you have shown yourself too early,' the real Hiei was behind Kiyuna, stabbing him in the back of the throat. Kiyuna glared at him, and moved away.

'So you are smart, just like in Phire's description in you,' Kiyuna wiped the blood off of his mouth and told Hiei. Hiei glared ultimate death at him.

'You are going DOWN, Kiyuna! You are going beyond hell; the nightmare illusions world!' Hiei growled, his sword in his hand glowing blood red with hints of darkness. Kiyuna chuckled.

'Fool, I'll let you go if you let me kill either Timber or Phire,' Kiyuna said as he snapped. Both of their bodies were in chains, and the wall appeared with the two, hurt badly.

'Timber! Phire!' Hiei yelled, about to run to the two, but then Kiyuna stopped him.

'Choose one or I'll kill both; of course, isn't love the thing you've had longer than friendship?' Kiyuna asked, messing with Hiei's head. Hiei growled.

'Let them both go, you bastard!' Hiei growled. 'They both mean nearly everything to me!' Kiyuna looked right at him, and had an evil smirk way beyond malevolence.

'Oh really?' he said as he snapped, the chains that bound Phire to the wall emitting more poison into her body. She yelled miserably, and more blood oozed out of her. Hiei couldn't take it and punched Kiyuna right in the face.

'Now you've made me mad,' Kiyuna growled, snapping again, the chains that bound Timber tightening to suffocate her. Hiei twitched miserably and growled even louder. He then ran to the middle of the wall, and looked back and forth at Timber and Phire. If he were to quickly save one, Kiyuna would kill the other before Hiei would even try to save the other.

'Now if you defeat me,' Kiyuna added, wanting to make things more interesting, 'I'll let them both go, but you have to scream the name of one of them that you would have saved first. I'll let you have both of them, but you have to defeat me first.' Hiei looked at Kiyuna. If he could torture Phire this miserably, and Hiei hasn't even defeated Phire, what was the chance that Hiei could defeat Kiyuna? Just then, fire molecules that somehow appeared in his eyes blinded Kiyuna.

_'Nani!' _Hiei thought, but realized that it was Hinote who finally came. He felt relieved a little.

'Hiei, I'll give you my power; I do not know how to defeat Kiyuna, but you may know, and with the right power, you can and will,' Hinote told him, touching his third eye and transferring his great amount of firepowers, including fighting techniques, into Hiei. Hiei growled, trying to adapt to the major increase in power, and managed. Hinote's body collapsed, and Hiei put him near Phire.

'This all will not be in vain!' Hiei growled, his eyes almost literally on fire, looking right at Kiyuna. Kiyuna smirked and took his sword out.

'This will be interesting; Hinote was very clever with his powers, especially when he fought Phire's fire with fire,' Kiyuna said, laughing. 'But he's turned into a foolish teen!' The anger in Hiei that had built up from a while ago burst out in the form of darkness. Hiei, with incredible and god-like speed, attacked Kiyuna, and it was a big blow, too. Kiyuna fell back, and he threw a shurikan at Hiei, who dodged it with ease.

_'Whoa, where did he get such power? Hinote never had such power,' _Kiyuna thought. Just then, Hiei stabbed Kiyuna right in the stomach, and instead of going straight through, went up, but unfortunately missed his heart, and could only go up to his medulla.

**_'Kuso,' _**Hiei thought to himself. He really wanted to kill Kiyuna, and to do it; it would take much more than this. Hiei gathered an immense amount of darkness in his hand, and gave fire to his sword, which was glowing bloody dark red. As he combined the two, Kiyuna was making a combo of his own, but used divinity and darkness.

'Divirk blast!' Kiyuna growled, his fist, which had divine aura and dark aura surrounding it, stabbing Hiei directly in the jagan eye. In that moment, Hiei struck the sword through Kiyuna's right wrist, and paralyzed it, causing most of Kiyuna's source of power to diminish. Since Hiei had built up an immune system to poison, or at least learned it from Kurama, who taught him a while ago, the poison Kiyuna was spreading to Hiei did not affect him in terms of poison, but in terms of pain, yes.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: "Tomodachigai, or Netsuai?" part II 

'Hiei, choose either your friend or your girlfriend,' Kiyuna muttered, who was in a great deal of pain. Hiei could barely move or do anything, but shook his head, and when he tried to attack Kiyuna, he had his wrist grabbed by Kiyuna and broken.

'Grrrrrrr!' Hiei growled in pain, but couldn't give up, after so much hard work and training. He just had to defeat Kiyuna. Kiyuna could not stay alive.

'Take this; Kasai assault!' Hiei growled, attacking Kiyuna with his other wrist, fire surrounding it. Kiyuna used water to put out the fire, and grabbed Hiei's other wrist, breaking it as well.

'Give up, Hiei; you used up Hinote's power; and for what? Nothing,' Kiyuna told him, trying to make him give up.

'I will never'-

'YOU FOOL! THEN I'LL SEND YOU TO THE NIGHTMARE ILLUSIONS MYSELF!' Kiyuna growled, throwing Hiei into a wall with sharp spikes and thorns. Hiei moaned in pain, but then suddenly felt better, in his mind, anyways.

'Kiyuna, stop,' a voice whispered. Kiyuna looked to Phire's corpse, which was actually a clone! And Timber's was a clone, too!

'PHIRE!' Kiyuna yelled out loud. 'GET OUT HERE AND FIGHT ME, YOU BAKA!' Phire came out, bloody and "ripped apart", and had Timber with her, who was still unconscious. There was dead silence; all that was heard was Phire's breathing; the low, miserable breathing.

'Ph…Phire?' Hiei looked up, seeing Phire stand in front of him with Timber in her hands. From the corner of his eye, Hiei saw the corpses fading, and that resulted in Phire bleeding more from the head. She fell on one knee, but then gently put Timber down, and got Hiei out of the spikes and thorns.

'Phire! What are you doing! You are disobeying me! I am your sub-conscious!' Kiyuna growled. Phire glared at him with bloody red eyes bloodier than a fresh corpse.

'You do not control me anymore, unless you haven't noticed,' Phire said in a kind of low voice due to her injuries. She looked to Hiei.

'Hiei, love means much more to you, right? Take Timber and I'll teleport you out of here along with Hinote. Live the best and take care of yourself and Timber,' Phire told him. Hiei couldn't believe what Phire was saying; was this for real?

'Phire, stop joking, you are coming as well after we take care of'-

'Hiei, leave now!' Phire growled in pain. 'Leave with Timber, I'll keep Hinote safe, so it will less burden you, now GO!' Hiei felt stunned; he couldn't leave Phire, and in this state, how was she going to kill Kiyuna?

'HIEI!' Phire growled, her sword out. 'Go or I will never forgive you for giving me the sense of actual friendship!' Hiei couldn't bear to see Phire struggle to yell, so he nodded hesitantly, wiped the tears off of his face, carried Timber and had Phire teleport himself and Timber back to the forest.

'Kiyuna, I want freedom; you've given me a sense of so much knowledge, _tatsujin, _but still… I don't _have _to let you live after all the crap you made me go through,' Phire told him. 'Even if it did benefit…'

'Phire, would you really want me to die? After all the good times'-

'GOOD! ARE YOU MAD! THAT WAS CRAP! YOU FRIGGIN BASTARD!' Phire yelled, darkness surrounding her, along with _Gogyou_ and extra divine and dark elements. This was the last shot to defeat Kiyuna, assumingly, and Phire was ready to kill him. Kiyuna built up his energy, but Phire was quicker and hit him, but he did hit her despite the damage he took, and sent her flying. Kiyuna died, and Phire was merely breathing; breathing as low as the cry of an ant.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Mixed and twisted ending 

_'Phire, why?' _Hiei thought to himself. He felt sadder and sadder, and couldn't bear the fact that Phire could have died. It was around 8 in the morning, and the sun was shining.

'Hiei-chan?' Timber asked in her sleep, waking up, a little. Hiei looked to Timber immediately and hugged her awake.

'Timber!' Hiei exclaimed in glee. Timber blinked as she just woke up and hugged Hiei back.

'_My _Hiei!' Timber exclaimed, rubbing her head against his chest. Hiei was still crying, but half in joy and half in sadness.

'Are you okay, Timber?' Hiei asked her. He was so overfilled with joy that tears started dripping from his eyes.

'Hai, Hiei, but what is going on? What happened?' Timber asked, wiping the tears off of his face. He smiled, and then looked to the sky. He kept his promise to Phire, and decided to just lie so she wouldn't know; besides, she wouldn't remember and would think Hiei was crazy.

'Well, let's just say that there were some rough enemies, but they are all dead now,' Hiei told her. He closed in on her and kissed her as he held her snug and tight, and she kissed back, glad that everything was okay.

'Yo guys! Hiei and Timber are back!' Yusuke announced as he was outside and saw the two coming. Genkai, Botan, Kurama, Kuwabara, Shizuru, and Keiko all went outside and were glad that they were safe.

'What happened, anyways?' Yusuke asked Hiei, confused. Everything was blank. Hiei explained that some random demons attacked, but Hiei took care of them.

'That seems somewhat of a lie and the truth at the same time,' Kurama told Hiei. Kurama had also forgotten about Phire and what had happened before. Pretty much everybody but Hiei forgot about Phire.

'Yea, well, we're all here and safe, aren't we?' Hiei asked, smiling. He still was determined to find Phire and make sure that she was okay, but he had to first convince everyone that everything was assumingly back to normal.

'Why don't we all go and get some ramen?' Shizuru suggested. Everybody nodded. 'We can go to Akira's ramen shop and get some; I think he's having a discount of 65!' Everyone nodded and left; all but Hiei. He said he had to take a shower, and Timber had a candy bar, becoming hyper, so instead of staying back, she left with the others.

_'Phire, I'm coming,' _Hiei thought, running as fast as he could back into the forest, hoping to find some clues.

After many hours, he reached Natura, and hoped that he would find Phire there. He looked around, and saw a shadow.

_'Phire?' _he thought, going towards it. When Hiei was a little closer, he noticed that it wasn't Phire, but it was Hinote.

'Hinote!' Hiei yelled, running towards him. Hinote smiled.

'Yo,' he said. 'Hey, uh, did you see'-

'Phire? No,' Hiei interrupted. 'I'm looking for her, too.'

'I hope she didn't leave yet,' Hinote said, worried. 'I want to tell her goodbye before she leaves.' Hiei looked stunned at Hinote. Phire leaving? Was she going to die, or did she have to go into another dimension?

'What do you mean she's leaving?' Hiei asked, worried. He didn't want Phire to go after all they had gone through. Hinote sighed.

'She has to go to the demon ruins in a different dimension for something,' Hinote told Hiei. Hiei wondered what that had to do with anything, but sighed.

'Why don't we split up and try to find her, then, eh?' Hiei suggested, ready to go back to the waterfall.

'Sure, why not?' Hinote agreed, and left to the mountainous region.

When Hiei reached the waterfall after many a while, he noticed something behind it; there was a secret door!

_'Phire, you better be here,' _Hiei thought as he went inside. Hiei was surprised to see paperwork, experimental equipment, specimens rocks, non-living matter, and other research things all scattered around.

'Crap! Where is it!' A voice growled. Hiei knew then it was Phire. He ran to where the voice was coming from, and found Phire bending down and looking for something.

'Phire!' Hiei exclaimed, tackling her to the ground. He landed right on top of her, and she didn't notice it was he until she actually looked.

'Hiei-kun! I didn't think you'd find me,' Phire told him. 'Something you need? Training? Weapons? I kind of have to leave, but if you need something quick, you can ask now,' she asked him, wondering what he wanted. Hiei looked strangely at her.

'What do you mean? Why are you leaving? Can't you stay longer?' Hiei asked, feeling sad all over again. Phire looked strangely at him.

'Um, I already trained you, didn't I? Your training is complete. Did your sword break? Is there something important you need from me?' Phire asked, confused. Hiei smiled with tears, and hugged her.

'What are you talking about? What do I need from you? I don't need anything from you. I need _you_,' Hiei told her. She raised her eyebrows in shock and a few red roses bloomed.

'Um, you mean you want a new sword? I can'- Hiei covered her mouth with his hand.

'You're my friend, aren't you? Can't you stay because we are _friends? _Did that ever occur to you?' Hiei told her. As he removed his hand, she looked right at him with bewilderment.

'But you have Timber,' Phire told him. 'And you have the guys back at the temple. And you still want me to stay?' she asked, confused. Hiei nodded and kissed her on the cheek.

'Why not? More the merrier, you know; besides, you are much closer to me than Kurama, and he's my best friend,' Hiei told her. She blushed a little more, and got up.

'Well Hiei, if I mean so much to you, just wait; once I am done with a little bit of business, I'll come back,' Phire told him. Hiei frowned and made a puppy face.

'Puppy faces don't work on me, Hiei,' Phire told Hiei, serious. Hiei tugged on her arm.

'Pwease stay for me?' Hiei asked in a child-like voice, with big eyes and tears coming out. Phire's eyes turned half blue and half red not purple, but she closed her eyes and turned her head.

'I'm sorry, but this is really necessary; it is the last part of a major research work, and'- Hiei kept pouting and crying, and Phire couldn't take it, so she was about to teleport, but he stopped.

'So it is _that _important?' he asked.

'Yea, it is,' Phire told him. Before she left, she turned back around, and went towards Hiei. He looked up at her.

'Before I leave,' Phire went closer to him and said, 'let me give you some things I'll be remembered by; for example'- and she kissed him right smack on the lips for about 20 seconds, and then stopped, but disappeared when Hiei opened his eyes.

_'She's really gone,' _Hiei thought, sighing. He turned around, and noticed a package. He went over to it, and it was addressed to him.

_'Nante,' _Hiei thought as he was opening it. It was a katana, with flames engraved on it in gold, silver, and ruby and sapphire. It was black for the most part, but when he turned it, Hiei saw his name engraved:

_**Hiei Jaganshi**_

And when he turned the blade around, it said:

_**Meiyuu**_


	19. Epilogue

**Epilogue:**

The moon was out, and birds chirped love. It was around the same time, and spring was evident; the sakura blossoms were enlightened by the luminosity of the moon. Everybody decided to have a picnic; funnily enough, this area was just like the garden area of Natura.

'Hey Hiei!' Timber yelled. 'Get some firewood, would ya?'

'Sure!' Hiei exclaimed. Everybody else was waiting and telling corny jokes, and making fun of Kuwabara. After Hiei would get firewood, he'd make the fire and then they could all have smores.

'Hey Keiko, it's been 10 years, and Hiei already has a little one! We should have one, too!' Yusuke exclaimed. Keiko blushed and smacked him upside the head. Akira, Timber's son, was as hyper as Timber, but as strong as Hiei, and he was helping mommy get out the chocolate.

'Mom, you have to restrain, like me,' Akira twitched, trying not to eat the chocolate. Timber twitched as well, which helped restrained from eating the chocolate.

'Yea, I know Akira, don't worry,' Timber twitched and told him. Kurama was getting the gram crackers, and everyone else just admired the moon, or made fun of Kuwabara again.

'Daddy better hurry up with the firewood; I'm hungry!' Akira yelled. Timber sighed, and everybody just waited impatiently.

_'Crap, there is no more wood that I can take,' _Hiei thought as he tried to look for firewood. Just then, he noticed a pile of firewood, and there was a lot, too. Hiei smiled as he went over, and the firewood was black; one of the purest types of firewood from Natura.

'I'm back, guys,' Hiei said as he had the firewood in his arms. As he set down the firewood, they automatically started a fire; it wasn't an electronic device, though. The fire was much darker and stronger, and the smores were toasted within seconds; Kuwabara was stupid enough to keep his smore there in the fire long enough for it to burn.

'Let's sing songs!' Yusuke suggested. Everybody sighed, but then they all decided to, as there was nothing better to do. Everyone started singing 'The Campfire song' song. Hiei laughed, but then looked to the moon.

_'Is it just me, or is the moon half black and half blue?' _Hiei thought. In the middle, he noticed that there was red. Hiei smiled and knew what it meant just as the wind blew, creating the shape of fire around Hiei. Now everything that he wanted was finally here with him; he would never have to decide between two most precious things, and now everything was perfect.


End file.
